^ If you're hoping that the Greek epics will help shed some light on Ulysses for you, they most certainly will not - or at least not to the extent that most people hope they will. Nothing is really analogous between the two, and the references, allusions and structuring go so far beyond throwbacks that unless you've read and studied Ulysses thoroughly, you'll be just as lost as if you've not read them. That being said, read Iliad and Odyssey just for the hell of it! They're a ton of fun and even occasionally moving. If you can, get a hold of the Robert Fagles translations.

Recommended reading for the poor soul attempting Ulysses is Joyce's 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.' Stephen Dedalus' story in 'Portrait' will, if anything, at least give you some familiarity with the character, his family, and his situation - which in the end take up about a third of the main 'action' of Ulysses anyway. I also recommend Shakespeare's tragedies. Several sections of Ulysses are quite striking (the graveyard bits) when considered in context with Hamlet (or the death-obsessed poetry of a large number of English Renaissance poets).

As for myself, I generally see books through to the end unless I'm really struggling to get through them for whatever reason (boredom or general busyness). Lately I've put aside Chuck Palahniuk's (sp?) 'Diary' because I flat-out become bored by his characters about half way through all his novels. A lot of people love the guy, so maybe I'm just missing something. I feel bad because the book was a gift, too. Also, I returned China Mieville's 'Perdido Street Station' to a friend after 10 pages. In this case I just didn't feel like delving into and familiarizing myself with a completely new fantasy world - I find it exhausting.