Where to start with James Joyce

French and British novelist, 1882–1941.

Best James Joyce book to start with: Ulysses (1922), on 9 of the 15 lists it could have made.

Ulysses is the lists’ choice, but A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the place to start. It is much shorter, and its style grows up with the boy at its centre, from baby talk to the sentences of a young man in Dublin, so it teaches you how to read Joyce as you go.

Ulysses follows ordinary Dublin people over one day in June 1904, and every chapter is written in a different style, which is half the point and half the difficulty. Read it in small pieces, and do not be afraid to keep a guide beside you.

Finnegans Wake is written in an invented, dreamlike language. Most readers treat it as an experiment to dip into and come back to. Leave it until you have finished Ulysses and want more.