Foucault's Pendulum

[buffcoat]

Worth reading?  I started it last night but decided to read "Crooked Little Vein" first.

Anybody ever made it through?  Was it worth it?  I liked "The Name of the Rose" (not the movie, jerks).  I like meta-European stuff pretty well - Italo Calvino, for example. 

After a few pages it seems considerably easier to make it through than "Ulysses," which I find just boring, or the titan of unreadables, "Finnegan's Wake."  But I don't want to put the slog in if the payoff is not there.

[yesno]

It's good, and not all that tough slogging.  It's more intellectual porn than "serious" literature, which is not a bad thing in the least.  I've never been able to get through any of his later novels, though.

Iain Pears is a less intellectual version of the same thing as Eco.  At least The Dream of Scipio and An Instance of the Fingerpost are.

[dave from knoxville]

Worth reading?  I started it last night but decided to read "Crooked Little Vein" first.

Anybody ever made it through?  Was it worth it?  I liked "The Name of the Rose" (not the movie, jerks).  I like meta-European stuff pretty well - Italo Calvino, for example. 

After a few pages it seems considerably easier to make it through than "Ulysses," which I find just boring, or the titan of unreadables, "Finnegan's Wake."  But I don't want to put the slog in if the payoff is not there.

I couldn't get through it, though admitting it makes me sad.

[emdasher]

What the fuck are you guys talking about?

[nervously adjusts hardhat, walks off]

[Jason]

I couldn't hack the 5" floppy disk. It made the whole thing seem so dated.
I guess as the relentless march of technological progress gathers apace this sort of thing will become more common. You'll start writing a book about technology that'll be superceded by the time you hit the second chapter. Have you ever noticed how the hokey space opera of the original Star Trek seems less dated than serious science orientated drama of Star Trek TNG?
I love Ulysses though and often revisit it. That's because in addition to being a damn fine message board poster I am also highly intelligent and, I may as well add here for no other reason than a spontaneous and uncharacteristic display of immodesty, very good looking.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Tried it about ten years ago.  Got to about page 100, felt incredibly stupid, and put it down. 

Every time I see it on my bookshelf, I fall to me knees, shake my fists in the air, and yell to the ceiling "ECCCOOOOOOOO!!!!"

[Keith Whitener]

I read it a while ago and enjoyed it very much. I found it to be a real page turner. It's a great mix of history and intrigue.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I started it, also about a decade ago, lost it somewhere, and was never moved to pick up a new copy.  What I did read seemed OK.

[NotGiamatti]

Hated it. Put it away halfway through. Life is too short.

The Name of the Rose on the other hand....one of the great novels.

Baudolino? Island of the Day Before? meh. Take or leave.

[gravy boat]

About six years ago.  I really liked and I don't remember it being tough to get through (and I start more books then I finish - any Dosteovsky, Infinite Jest, any Pychon).   

[mike_b]

Yeah it's kind of an Important book, but I didn't finish it either.  I read enough to get the idea.  I was already familiar with the whole "dueling conspiracy narrative" thing from some other books I read that are dorky and embarrassing.