I know several computer languages and a few human ones, but Ulysses to me reads like gibberish. I have no idea what Joyce is talking about. My brain just refuses to parse it.
That's the whole point. It's not easy to write prose that doesn't parse but seems like it should. Seriously, try it some time. Write a paragraph of nonsense that doesn't feel like it was just generated by a computer picking random words out of a dictionary. Now imagine keeping that up for hundreds and hundreds of pages.
With Joyce it also helps if you're familiar with Dublin city accents.
Give Finnegans Wake a shot.
You likely know this, but Ulysses is meant to be read aloud (or at least internally voiced) and as a stream of consciousness. The closest modern equivalent is reading transcripts of Trump’s speeches.
Good point: Approach it like poetry. I'll try the Audible version.
An article about James Joyce's Ulysses, the post title being a reference to the "bloomsday" June 16, 1904