Ulysses at 100 – start here if you want to read this modernist classic

Ulysses is often written off as inaccessible but the epic is much more readable than most assume. mage Professionals GmbH/Alamy

James Joyce’s Ulysses was first published 100 years ago. For a century, it has been seen as an intimidating read, but I’d like to challenge that. It is surprisingly accessible.

Set in Dublin on a single day (June 16 1904), Ulysses commemorated Joyce’s first date with his life partner, Nora Barnacle. Nora herself never cared to read it. Jim, she said, should have stuck to the singing.