Umberto Eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

I thought I fell in love with Umberto Eco after reading his "How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays" a few years ago. It turned out only to be a crush. His novel "The Name of the Rose" was too difficult for my faculties as a result of which I shied away from him after the first 3 pages.

A few weeks ago, I came across Umberto's "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" in Bookzone. I was immediately attracted by the book when I realised that it contains many illustrations within. I turned a few pages. It didn't seem as unreadable as "The Name of the Rose", so I decided to give him another chance. Afterall, there must be a good reason why I fell in love with him "at first sight".

"Queen Loana" turned out to be a such a gem. I was down with a bad flu for almost a week and 'Queen Loana" accompanied me during those hours in bed. It's a story about a man who lost his memory and went back to his old home in search of himself. In the process, he came across the books, literatures, comic, music, etc which formed his childhood and adolescent years. I love the fact that there was so much reference to other materials. I was like on a trail of trivia pursuit, except that the pursuit was anything but trivia.

Suffice it to say that when I finished the last line last night, I had this urge to embark on a project to unearth the whole load of literary treasures in the book. So, I read the reviews (which were mostly only tepid in reception) and was I delighted to come across what's called the "Queen Loana Annotation Project", exactly what I was looking for!

Looks like I shall be busy the next couple of months on a treasure hunt.

And yes, I am back in love with Umberto Eco.