Every year around this time I read Ulysses. Yes, I am a bit pretentious. It is a struggle even at this my perhaps eighth or ninth go. I kind of liken it to learning a language; it is difficult, mysterious, but ultimately well worth it - one of the wittiest and poignant of books. My advice is to get the annotated student edition - helps if you are not proficient in the major European modern languages, Latin and ancient Greek, and are not au fait with say, Irish politics in the early 1900s and church ecclesiastical history.
This year, I have warmed up for the Ulysses read with The Bloomsday Dead by Adrian McKinty. This is a stonking novel, just out from Serpent's Tail, that uses the Ulysses structure to make a modern day thriller.
The body count is much higher than Ulysses, mind. By about page 3 Michael Forsythe (the Leo Bloom stand-in) kills two Colombians that have been sent to whack him, plus turncoat Hector. And that is just the start - a lot of heads get blown off, throats cut. The main plot is a kidnap case of old flame (and current mob boss) Bridget's daughter that former crim Forsythe has to solve.
The Ulysses references are clever (McKinty manages to wittily replicate the opening sentence, for example) without being pretentious. But the book is pacy enough on its own for anyone who has never even heard of James Joyce to enjoy.
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