Morning all – A*a*on have the complete works of James Joyce as a Kindle download for £0.99 this morning. Might be of interest to some, especially if you have never sampled Joyce before (ie, like me).
As you were…
Kindle Klaxon: James Joyce
by 116 Comments
Small correction: it’s strictly described as The Complete Collection (not the complete works) – but it’s 5,000+ pages, so I’m guessing there’s a fair bit of reading for 99p…
This was where my bullshit meter went into overdrive. Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wank together only add up to a bit more than 1500pp. Some padding going on there, I reckon.
How lucky you are to have a bullshit meter – saved yourself a whole 99p.
This has been a really fun thread, guys – no more klaxons from me.
See you round the campus!
Fait pas la gueule cheri! Reviens!
Well, quite, HP – just a bad day after a bad week, it’s not like I’m invoking the F-word…
ps: I had to look that up, my colloquial French isn’t up to it…
Bof.
Bof? Qu’est-ce que c’est?
*shrugs, juts chin, goes on strike….probably*
Alors, c’est Monsieur Kenny Everett!
Just to be clear, it wasn’t you that registered on my bullshit meter.
Quick question – can you use other readers to read this, or is it locked to only the Kindle device?
No idea…
Only Kindle (mobi)
You may be able to convert it to another compatible format with Calibre e-book management software, which is free, completely safe and excellent.
Unfortunately, if Amazon have used DRM on the files, they probably won’t be convertable. In which case your best option is to find all of that package’s contents for free download at Project Gutenberg.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=james+joyce&submit_search=Search
I see Saucepot has suggested Project Gutenberg too. It’s not an Eel Market but a completely legit source for free literature.
Grabbing a copy of Calibre right now – thanks. I’ve plundered Gutenberg for Joyce, too. I have an eBook reader installed on my Windows tablet, but TBH I can’t remember what it’s called off the top of my head – I’ve got a feeling it might also be an earlier iteration of Calibre; I’ll check later.
Thanks to you and to HP also for the Gutenberg reminder.
Can’t you get a Kindle app?
No idea. I assume it’s an Apple thing? I steer clear of Apple stuff.
Kindle app for compootah is discontinued. Maybe you can get one for your phone – but why?
Longtime Calibre user here, but I’ve migrated to my phone, making it unnecessary. I have a couple of reader apps – recommend ReadEra. Free, no ads, handles everything. The Kindle looks like rusty farm machinery next to it.
By far the best source for books is z-lib dot org, today’s equivalent of the library at Alexandria. You have to check your scruples at the desk, though.
Not Apple. Amazon, available for lots of phones/tablets etc.
No the Kindle app is free and runs on anything. Pretty decent app as it goes.
But, but … why? It’s very limited, and allows Jeff Bezos to peek into what you’re reading on yer phone. Pointless using it when there are superior readers such as ReadEra out there. But go ahead- use the Kindle app. I’m not your mum.
A no-brainer! Snapped up, thanks. Will check it out later: hopefully the formatting etc is up to scratch and it’s not just been thrown together, but for 99p I can’t really complain. I recently re-read Dubliners and it was brilliant, but I haven’t read Ulysses since uni and I’ve never tackled Finnegan yet. Will be good to have them all in easy access kindle form.
That copy of Finnegans will remain unaccessed, as will most of this collection.
Just looked. The Complete Works is available further down the page for 75p.
It pays to shop around, folks!
Well done! Do you have a plan for the money you saved – or will you just leave it in the bank and let the interest accumulate?
I love it when you pout.
If saving money is your criterion for reading a book, some of his works are available free, gratis, and for nothing, at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=james+joyce&submit_search=Go%21 (other authors are available).
Fear not, Mr Saucebox – I purchased ‘Helium’ as a proper, physical book…with real money.
That was very decent of you, fitterstoke. I’d give digital copies away for nothing if “my publisher” would let me have them.
Now I feel a mug. I’ve now found a website which actually pays YOU to download copies of James Joyce books: http://www.dontpay99pyoumug.com
DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK!!! RICKROLL!!!!
Ta, see above. Getting an eBook is not my first choice for anything, and there’s a copy of the paperback Ulysses up in my loft anyway (like many, I’m a first-twenty-pages-abandon-hope-and-read-summat-else-multiple-Ulysses-attempts person), but I thought Dubliners or Portrait (parts of which I recall from school English lessons) might be an easier way in, and I could shove ’em on the tablet and take it to Devon for a forthcoming brief hols.
James Joyce’s tiny babies will starve to death. I suppose you’ll all be satisfied then.
Blistering Barnacles!
“James Joyce’s Tiny Babies” – TMFTL
Their debut album “Finnegan’s Snooze” is aces. The keenly-awaited followup “Kerrymen”, less interesting.
Me hate baby sitters, yes I do yes
Yes it’s only 99p, but it’s not issued by a recognised publisher of books. I’m always wary of ‘classics’ not by for example Everyman or Penguin as no-one wants to get two-thirds of the way through to discover 50 pages missing – insert joke about that would be a result here. There’s a random use of CAPITALISATION a stock black and white photo, graphic design by a GCSE student, and the cheery tag line “Irish novelist and poet!” (sic). Doesn’t give me 100% confidence in the contents of Ulysses p 363. It is a bit of thing of mine you can probably tell.
I defer to your specialist knowledge – I’ll leave well alone next time.
What’s the sic for? The exclamation mark? Seems like a pretty exciting combination to me..
Other tag lines excitable publicists could use….
Mucky Stuff! (Ulysses)
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll give up! (Finnegans Wake)
It’s like Benjamin Button, but in the RIGHT ORDER! (Portrait of the Artist..)
I’ll stop now.
The more replies I read to this post the more I am regretting my knee-jerk response of “it’s a no brainer!” above. I’ve changed my mind – it’s a brainer, and I’ve lost 99p on a shoddy looking, cobbled-together version of some out of copyright books. We live and learn.
I can only apologise – I’ve let myself down; I’ve let the site down, I’ve let my country down. Won’t happen again. BFN.
@fitterstoke don’t consider a career in politics.
Here, take this Service Revolver. There’s a round up the spout, and there’s a decent Macallan 25 in the library.
Is the service Revolver in stereo or mono?
Half-speed remastered.
This site is full of people with ‘very particular sets of skills’ if by skills you mean over-detailed assessments of the worth of particular forms of cultural production. I wouldn’t worry. Next up: did those gold CDs you come across occasionally really sound better than silver?
YEAH! *air punch* WHAT HE SAID! *puzzled look*
You sound like you need cheering up, A
In which case I can sell you the actual chair (wobbly leg and all) James J sat in while writing Ulysses for a very reasonable price.
99p?
Sold to the man with the dodgy titfer
I did “A portrait of the artist” for A level and man it was hard going. I’ve never felt inclined to return…
Sackcloth and ashes, old chum. Have to see if I can take it these days, after all these years.
Yeah, good idea. I don’t subscribe to the “if you study it you can’t enjoy it” line but maybe “if you don’t especially like it anyway, studying it will be really bad” is accurate?
I only enjoyed Shakespeare after being made to study it. There was a pain barrier I had to force myself through after which I never looked back. See also Jane Eyre, Hardy’s poetry and Lord of the Flies.
On the other hand, The Color Purple I was knocked out by the first time I read it: reading it again for study revealed its flaws.
I reckon one could get a lot out of Ulysses in a similar way, by studying it, revealing the meaning, discussing it in groups. You might find you were missing out on a great experience.
Personally I enjoy Samuel Beckett’s prose like Murphy and the Trilogy, also some of the shorter pieces like First Love. It’s bleakly funny and quite accessible I think. Yet he was a disciple of Joyce although he found his own niche.
JOYCE IS – wupes – capslock from previous comment – one of those writers we’re supposed to read/enjoy/appreciate, and there’s some lingering cultural pressure there, as if in not enjoying/appreciating/understanding his stuff we are intellectually inferior to those who do (step forward Anthony Burgess, and receive a slap in the kisser with a wet fish). I say nuts to James Joyce. Flann O’Brien (under any name) is the greater writer, and quite as Irish.
Good call, H.P.
The same applies to Trout Mask Replica.
And Blackstar. Tee hee.
Best track on The Bends IMHO
Have to agree.
Prompted by Robert Anton Wilson fandom many years back, I manfully wrestled with ‘Finnegan’s Wake’, hoping for an esoteric insight but never even slightly connected & quit pretty early on.
Flann O’ Brien ( or Miles) by contrast was an instant joy & has always been very rewarding to re-read several times.
‘At Swim Two Birds’ has to be one of the greatest stories ever committed to paper.
There was a lad called Robert Wilson in my class at school. He was delicate and wore slip-on winklepickers.
Anyone who »wrestles« with ‘Finnegans Wake’ should well avoid the German translation. (…which is quite brilliant in its mysterious ways, but will keep you occupied for a couple of years.)
Is it true that the German version is one long word made of millions of small words all jammed together?
Hopefully, in the correct order.
With all the verbs bolted together in the final hundred or so pages.
That’s because Finnegan can’t do much until he’s woken up.
Was probably my favourite pub in Zurich. The interior brought over from another bar in Dublin
https://www.jamesjoyce.ch/
I recommend the schnitzel
Bless you!
*pushes sandwich to one side*
1,260,789,426
Anyone about to read Ulysses may want to avoid listening to The Sensual World by Kate Bush as it gives away the ending.
Endings from Kate?
Calling Moose!
Mmmmhhh no.
I have never read any Joyce and I feel confident I never will. Yootha is closer to my interests.My brother has read the lot so that is enough for the Wells clan I reckon.
I have, however, read this thread and had a good larf. So thanks @fitterstoke.
“The Dead” is only 80 pages long, and is both accessible and absolutely brilliant. Recommended to all Joyce sceptics!
I’ve got all their albums.
That’s impossible. There are an infinite number.
The new set from ’69 is just astonishingly good.
80 pages. Big print ?
Printed on 180gram paper. It’s like reading a book of carpet samples. Only less entertaining
It made a fantastic film though.
I tried it on Audible. By god, Martin Jarvis earns his money
This entire thread is now available on Kindle for 99p.
Bof
Flann O’Brien’s out-of-copyright books
here.
I read the last couple of pages of Ulysses to see how it ended. Please supply your own punchline here: I got nuthin.
The “happy finish” is fine in a massage parlour (jaygee tells me, in a private email) but seems a bit flaccid here. Shocking at the time, it led to the book being banned, which boosted its reputation for those who read with one hand.
Hmm. It needs to be a lot punchier to maintain the crowd interest, I think. This is a bit too “Stewart Lee” as it stands.
Who’s Mikael Mcentire?
Whatever happened to the Kindle deals threads? Can’t say I actively participated in them but there was plenty of joy and info therein. I’ve even got a new Kindle (and 10 years do seem to have brought a few improvements). But I won’t be indulging in the Joyce bargain. Anyone got an Orwell complete bargain that’s half decently edited? There are plenty of options.
I started the kindle deal threads and felt it was a lockdown thing but they are easy to do if people would appreciate it.
Easy for you, maybe…😉
About as easy as a nuclear war.
You are literally worse than Hitler.
^iconic joke.
I certainly would!
This isn’t the Judith Durham thread, Guiri.
I find them helpful Mose, in fact they directly led me to buy a new Kindle!
Will I post a comment here, thereby nudging this thread hamperwards?
Yes I will yes.
The hamper full of CORSAIR TINNED CHICKEN yes the moist meat slippery in my fingers yes (ect)
Shocked and stunned that this odd little thread made it to the dizzying heights of hamperdom yes I’d like to thank Moose for that push over the edge yes HP for his usual sauce yes and everyone who helped me on the way up (produces onion from pocket) we might meet up on the way down hands aloft like a prizefighter takes the cheers of the crowd as the hamper is brought forth by Kate Bush and three Irish dancers dressed as shrubs the sun glinting off the Corsair Chicken tin
Sorry about that, haven’t had me coffee yet. Is this my first hamper?
Rented a tent
Rented a tent
Rented
Rented a tent
…. sorry, that’s the only other bit of Joyce I can remember
I’ve never read any Joyce, Moose – hence my naïve (some might say misplaced) enthusiasm in the OP…
Saw you in a mag, kissing a man
Saw you in a mag, kissing a man
Saw you in a mag, kissing a man
Robert Gotobed is actually a very Joycean name. But then you could say almost anything is Joycean, including this stupid post.
I always thought that you had a Joycean cut to your jib, Moose – and that’s a big claim, considering I haven’t read any…
He was good in that Morrissey trial.
There hasn’t been enough Finnegan’s Wake on this thread. So…
This the way to the museyroom. Mind your hats goan in! Now yiz are in the Willingdone Museyroom. This is a Prooshious gunn. This is a ffrinch. Tip. This is the flag of the Prooshious, the Cap and Soracer. This is the bullet that byng the flag of the Prooshious. This is the ffrinch that fire on the Bull that bang the flag of the Prooshious. Saloos the Crossgunn! Up with your pike and fork! Tip. (Bullsfoot! Fine!) This is the triplewon hat of Lipoleum. Tip. Lipoleumhat. This is the Willingdone on his same white harse, the Cokenhape. This is the big Sraughter Willingdone, grand and magentic in his goldtin spurs and his ironed dux and his quarterbrass woodyshoes and his magnate’s gharters and his bangkok’s best and goliar’s goloshes and his pullupon-easyan wartrews. This is his big wide harse. Tip.
Her tongue tasted of biscuit and I was as hard as a Martello Tower…. Oh sorry, that’s Ulysses.
This is brilliant, Mike. Saying it’s better than the book is faint praise, because anything is.
Joyce Grenfell was good as the police woman in the St Trinian’s fillums.
I’ve read HMS Ulysses.
I’ve finished now.
I have to thank Ulysses for my love of fried kidneys. I’ve adjusted the recipe. I chop onions, garlic and chilli and fry in a wok. I use rapeseed oil. I then add chopped kidneys. The finishing touches are English mustard and black pepper. Serve on toast. Sometimes, for a change, I add mushrooms or kidney beans or both. Mushrooms add enough moisture to serve with rice.