Foucault's Pendulum: More posts coming, but real quick:

* I loved it. Haven't had that much fun with a novel since The Secret History, though Declare, with which it has an affinity or two (re: postulating a hidden history of our times), comes close.

* It's cross-genre: mystery/suspense, dark fantasy, and elements of Bildungsroman.

* Lia throughout, and Diotallevi in his last scene, are absolutely blazing spokesmen against gnosticism and esotericism, the more so because neither is a Catholic, so neither can make specifically Catholic arguments.

Note: I've finished the book, and I think the end -- the very end -- reinforces the anti-gnostic theme. Notice that I have not written any spoilers here. If your comments contain spoilers, include warnings as well (e.g. "SPOILER ALERT").