I tried reading it in late 2015 and it was just hard! The only thing I remember and find really funny is the dog on the beach peeing on an unsmelt rock!
You can try listening to podcasts by Frank Delaney called Re:Joyce. He goes through the book sentence by sentence. Sadly, Frank Delaney died before he could complete the podcast series.
We can learn from him, and learn from his fate.
How much of it did he cover?
Talking about James Joyce, vs. really reading his works...it's kinda like the difference between talking about Einstein, vs. really reading (including understanding the math) his major works (in high-level physics). Except reading Joyce brings far more old-school more social cachet.