Several of the people I work with seem to have learned their punctuation and grammar from that novel as well! 
(A university friend was an English major. I remember seeing his dog-eared and highly notated paperback copy of Ulysses long after I’d attempted the novel and given up in frustration. I stand corrected: the other end of the spectrum from Elmore Leonard readability is Joyce!)
Is it that bad that even a native struggles? The longest English book I’ve read was probably a 150 pages long book aimed at English learners. If it’s that extreme… maybe I should try reading “I Want My Potty!” instead, which definitely fits my maturity and English knowledge.
Oh, heaven’s yes! English is my native language, and I have to take it on faith that Ulysses is truly a masterpiece rather than an elaborate practical joke by English professors using the random scribbles of a madman. It’s completely impenetrable to me. It’s out of copyright and available for free online if you dare. I can’t make it through the first page without breaking out in hives.
The other book that English teachers like to torment students with is Beowulf. At least Chaucer had an excuse: the rules of spelling and grammar hadn’t been standardized, and the language itself was still an evolving mishmash of the constituent languages.
That end of the spectrum makes you appreciate just how easy authors like Leonard are to read!
For what it’s worth, my two all-time favorite examples of English literature are Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey and Moby Dick by Herman Melville. The former is an easier read.
I’m also not a native speaker of English. I learnt some words in the mnemonics, in the examples and in the meanings themselves (ie: I didn’t know “to stoop” but I knew “to crouch”). Also, some few concepts on the mnemonics have clear cultural references. In one example there was some kind of cake or cookie that someone brought to an (I assume) American class.
And well, I don`t feel like reading Joyce in the short-term future but I can recommend William Gibson. It has a way of doing very modern American English sentences. Some of this way of writing is the syntax but also the words he uses. Besides, he also puts some kind of real freak tech in his last novels. I recommend Pattern Reconigtion and Spook Country.
I wouldn’t recommend Joyce in the distant future either. I still haven’t made my way through Ulysses.
Haha in my language geoduck is called phallusclam where phallus means penis 
I know what a phallus is. That fits so much better. I mean how looks at this and thinks: that totally looks like an elephants trunk and not at all like a dick? 
Right … a very useful word and typically nothing to do with being on the right hand side or in the right direction :). right definition | English definition dictionary | Reverso
Often means more ‘correct’ than directional … especially confusing is ‘right in front of you’ 
‘are right in agreement’ doesn’t feel like 100% ‘proper’ english … I read it as ‘they are immediately in full agreement’ or ‘right there in agreement with you’ …
This! Haha so true.
Cleat and yurt on the same level… I don’t really know what either of it is 
Omg yes. I learned so many new words. Still not sure what cleat is tho 
But know for sure what CiRcUmFeReNcE is
I’m a native English speaker and I’ve learned plenty of English words through WK or various Japanese study. 
I’ll periodically look up a word or kanji in the dictionary, and the English definition sometimes includes a word I’ve never heard of so I look that up too.
I find it hilarious that I’m actually improving in two languages this way.
I’m starting to really love this thread.
I was living in Osaka in the mid-1980’s, and used to pass by the Kinokuniya bookstore almost daily. God I loved that store. Among other things, it had a HUGE section of English novels (laugh): almost two full rows of English books.
I remember so clearly picking up Neuromancer on a lark (the cover looked interesting and it was displayed prominently). It completely blew me away! To this day I buy anything Gibson writes the day it becomes available.
His recent arc of novels is, of course, astonishingly good (he’s finished two of a three novel series). The first in the series was Peripheral.
It is quite literally the only book I’ve ever read where I immediately turned back to page one and re-read the first one hundred or so pages as soon as I finished the book.
I almost gave up in frustration the first time through the first hundred or so pages because I just couldn’t follow what was happening. It was so confusing, like nothing I’d ever read.
Then an almost visceral *click* — suddenly everything snaps into focus. Your eyes widen and you race through the next chapter or two.
If anyone reading this does read the book for the first time, do not give up within the first hundred pages. Trust me. It’s worth it. 
A yurt’s a fancy tent and a cleat is the spikes on football shoes.
You knew both without Google?
Yurt is just as weird in my native language and I wouldn’t know it without Google Pics.
Cleat is a rare word, too. I heard it as a kid when I was playing football/soccer (whoever reads this haha).
English is my native language and I knew both without Google.
I know yurt because I go camping a lot and I know cleat because while I’m camping I go hiking.
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