The First Book

I've been thinking about whether to go easy or hard, or on what basis I chose when to read each book. Anyway, I've decided to set myself a challenge to start with. As there is a new BBC Radio 4 production of this text that aired yesterday, I thought I'd give it a go. Here's the link: Radio 4 Production of Ulysses
I haven't listened to the radio broadcast, but will consider it, although I would like to start reading it first. 
I've attempted Ulysses in the past but not got very far. The last time I tried it, it was a library book, which probably didn't help. Anyway, I have a charity shop copy I bought a while back but can't remember attempting. I also have the free downloaded version on the Kindle, but I've chosen to read a physical copy as this is a specific version of the text and knowing that this book has a reputation for being dense and difficult, I thought I'd be better off with a few footnotes to guide me on my way. 
The book is an OUP (World's Classics) version of the 1922 text published in 1998 edited by Jeri Johnson. The 1922 edition is supposed to be closest to the original text. This can be important, I know from reading D.H Lawrence's Lady Chatterly novels. Lawrence published several editions of the story which are quite different in tone to each other. 

The cover image is interesting, here is a small copy of it, which I have taken from The Tate Gallery Website. 
The name is The Transmogrifications of Bloom by Richard Hamilton (1984-5). Although I haven't found out much about it so far, I suspect that it may have been comissioned for a copy of the book or certainly heavily influenced by it. 
So far, I don't know that much about the book either, only that it is Modernist, set over a day in 1904 and that Joyce was unable to publish in England due to supposed obscenity. I haven't studied any Joyce before either. 
Anyway, I suppose I should start reading it!