Dear Great Book Guru, I was checking my calendar and I see that next Wednesday, June 16^th, is Bloomsday. I usually celebrate with friends reading excerpts of ULYSSES but this year I wanted to do something outdoors and a little more special. Any thoughts?  Bloomsday Celebrant

Dear Bloomsday Celebrant, I have a wonderful suggestion for you.  As most of our readers know, Bloomsday is celebrated every year to commemorate the day James Joyce’s ULYSSES takes place: June 16, 1904. Joyce spent most of his adult life in exile, but he wrote obsessively about one place and one place only: his birthplace - Dublin.  In ULYSSES, we follow three main characters through the day into the night - seeing and experiencing Dublin as they did. But ULYSSES is more than the portrait of one city on one day - it is also the study of the epic wanderings of the Greek hero Odysseus (Ulysses) - mocking the wanderings of the most unlikely of heroes: Leopold Bloom.  On Wednesday, June 16 at 7pm, the James Joyce Society of Sea Cliff will lead a tour of Sea Cliff/Dublin stopping at parallel locations along the way. The tour will begin at the Metropolitan Bistro / Sea Cliff Water Tower (Martello Tower). This costumed, musically-accompanied excursion will take about an hour. Not necessary, but you might want to read ULYSSES AND US by Declan Kieberd or THE MOST DANGEROUS BOOK by Kevin Birmingham. Happy James Joyce Jaunt and Happy Bloomsday!