I like to think that I judge a book by its content rather than your pasta, but a lie half the content is uncertain, so my decision to start reading run largely on account of the seduction that carries on its cover me. Graphically speaking, the covers are pretty boring, but I got caught by a suggestive title, the name of an author that I know or even fall for a review on the back of it that I guaranteed to be one of the best books they want to sell , say they want recommend. In the case of The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, the title sucks (at least before reading the book), but the name of Umberto Eco in bright red ink does intrigue me enough to give him a chance to book. CHT
MLXC What should you ask a good book? Hypocritically
I ask for something new, but a small part of me, as Marcel Proust taught me to see, is hoping to find some resemblance to other 'good' books I've read. So I ask for things like a plausible argument, but not entirely predictable by a pair of existential questions here and there, some historical data, scientific psychological or unknown and ultimately a lasting memory of your reading.
In The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, is mandatory comparison with other 'good' Eco books, but really one can not say that the history of Mussolini's Italy is more interesting than the story of the Templars or the point of view of a LIBRARYYamba as creating my own pantheon.
