Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Five books that made a difference to Jon Hamm

The actor Jon Hamm (of Mad Men) told O, The Oprah Magazine about a few books that made a difference to him.

One book on his list:
Foucault's Pendulum
by Umberto Eco

Foucault's Pendulum isn't an easy read, but it's a super-satisfying one. It's an incredibly complicated mystery about art and religion. The story is told in an interesting style of two twisting narratives (one about the main character and the other about the people following him). I read The Da Vinci Code in three days; this novel took a few weeks, because it works on a deeper level and Eco creates this dense web of intrigue. His style is self-referential—he is a big fan of the writer Jorge Luis Borges and has a lot of his sensibilities, where things reflect upon themselves and you have to really pay attention. Those are the kinds of books I like.
Read about another book on Hamm's list.

--Marshal Zeringue