This is another book that I have surprisingly not read until recently. And this is despite the fact that I am an Umberto Eco fan, and have read most of his other books---but I had not read this book, his first novel, and still probably the most popular. My edition, an English translation published in 1984, has a quote on the back to the effect that Umberto Eco had written his first novel! It is hard to imagine, now, an audience surprised by that one Italian semiotician writing a novel, but at one point, Eco was more known as a literary critic than a writer of experimental (but action-packed) novels. And I read this book backwards: I had already read Foucault's Pendulum and The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana before I read it, so it seemed slightly more tame, linear and less "meta" than his later works. But for readers at the time, it was probably quite a surprise!

The Name of the Rose is set in a medieval monastery, with the main characters all being monks of different

"We write to you as friends, neighbours and Englishmen, concerning Queen Mary’s declared intention to marry a foreigner, and request you to join us to prevent this. We swear to you before God that we seek no harm to the Queen, but merely wish her better advice. Our wealth and health depend on it. A hundred armed Spaniards have already arrived at Dover and travelled through Kent on their way to London. We require you to assemble with as much support as possible, to help us

No fog, heavy rains

Not of feline or of dog

Not a single tadpole,

Just a mighty Tree Frog