Focaults Pendulum

[warpig3]

Have you read it and how long did it take you?

At my current rate I reckon I will finish it in time for christmas..................2015! Dear god its hard work, is it worth persevering or should I just do away with myself now?

[jake-the-peg]

Read it two or 3 times, one of my favorite books.

Eco does admit the first part is tough going - some have suggested deliberately.

How far have you got?

Personally I think it's his best, or maybe Baudolino

[warpig3]

Thanks JTP, I will try and persevere as I have never started a book and not finished it, no matter how bad. I have been told it is an excellent read but am finding it tough going. To my shame I am only on page 82 and I have been reading it for a week (granted only before bed) but I just seem to lose interest and get frustrated, grrrrrrrr. Then again I recall my first reading of Catch 22 and thinking at the beginning 'what the heck is this all about', turned out to be one of my favourites.

So I shall make a more considered effort given that it should get easier.

Many thanks
warpig

[jake-the-peg]

Well in that case I might respond by having another go at Catch 22 I gave up on that half way through as well.

If you've not read Eco before you might like to try Name of the Rose and come back to the pendulum.

Rose has a lot of bits about medieval church politics that are facinating if your into the period but if not you can cheerfully skip them without losing the plot.

I'm not a great lover of "The mysterious flame of Queen Loana" either, I think you may need to be of an older generation, there are a lot of resonances that are probably stronger with an earier generation but there are still a few great bits in it.

All in all I do have to confess to being a bit of an Eco head - but you probably worked that out by now

I also think Baudolino's brilliant but again takes a little while to hot up.

Island of the day before is one of the most irritating books I've ever read because I keep wanting the plot to go in a slightly different direction and find myself fighting with the text. I guess that means I don't properly understand what he's getting at

[warpig3]

This is the first Eco book I have attempted but I may try Name of the Rose and try and ease myself in gently.

Definitely have another go at Catch 22, it all becomes clear in the end and eventually makes sense and with each re-reading (well for me anyway) there is a different and deeper take on it. I found that some of the text I had to reread several times just to get my head around it, no wonder it took Heller 6 years to write.

[China Doll]

The Name of the Rose is fantastic and is much easier to read than Pendulum but I think Pendulum is more rewarding. I've read it twice and have yet to fully understand it. The first time I read it I got so confused and had to keep turning back a few pages and what have you in the beginning bits. (In fact I'm not sure if Jake remembers as I think he helped me on some posts regarding this book but I ended up in Science for about a week asking several questions just to understand what was being written about. And then after I understood it just led to more blinking questions!)

Anyway, my rather long winded answer is... Yes, definitely worth reading!

[tickledtrout]

I am ashamed to say that after 3 or 4 attempts I gave up on Foucault's, but I did enjoy The Name of the Rose

[warpig3]

Right, that settles it, I will go for the Name of the Rose first. I find when I am reading FP that the imagery and language Eco uses in the narrative is so intense that I have to stop every couple of lines and try and conjure it up in my mind (not to mention consulting the dictionary) then by the time I do this I have forgotten what I was reading.

But I will not be beaten should it take me a life time (probably will though).

[jake-the-peg]

Eco gets point in FP just for working the word "psychopomp" in

[warpig3]

Aw, not fair, its bad enough having to look up words I dont know without him using ones that dont appear in my dictionary, grrrrrr.

[ann_h]

Don't feel bad...
It took me months to finish FP, and I normally read a novel in an afternoon.
My brother (speaks Latin, took A-level Law in spare time, doctorate in English Lit and professor of same etc etc) went to see Eco give a talk and admitted he was lost after the first 20 minutes!

The book is just so full of other information, you have to read a bit, research it it and digest that before starting the next portion.