What: Umberto Eco's first novel is a medieval whodunnit set in an Italian monastery. With this bestselling doorstopper, you get a monk-murderer, accusations of heresy, casks of pig blood, secret symbols, and some unexpectedly baroque descriptions of illuminated manuscripts.
Comparable to: Like If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, this novel is set up as a postmodernist puzzler. Also like If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, the original language of the book is Italian.
Closing lines [no spoilers; don't worry]: "It is cold in the scriptorium, my thumb aches. I leave this manuscript, I do not know for whom; I no longer know what it is about: stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus."
You might not like it if: Well, it's a 600+-page novel in which a lost work by Aristotle plays a pivotal role and Latin is strewn about with reckless abandon. It's difficult to pinpoint why exactly this was such a popular success that it inspired a movie adaptation, a board game, a radio drama, and a video game.
How to get it: The Name of the Rose is widely available. Easy to buy, borrow, or download to your Kindle.
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