And as a work of literature, I believe it is a rather strong book, as the "monotony" is meant to be a symbolic representation of the Liberal/Conservative battles that still rage in a slightly altered form even today in the form of FARC and its right-wing paramilitary counterparts. The character motivations are closely tied to the historical mindsets of the time (the more I learned about Colombian history of the late 19th/early 20th century, the more sense the Arcadios and the Aurelianos made to me). The strange/fantastical I believe were meant to highlight the absurdity of the "real" events occurring at the edges of the narrative.

As for Baudolino, oddly enough, I received a copy of the Italian edition in the mail on Saturday. I happened to like that book precisely because of how Eco treats the issue of fabrication and exaggeration in medieval accounts.

Hrmm...perhaps either one of these two books ought to be considered for a future Book Club discussion?

Edit: I forgot to say that I've been an advocate ever since I was a grad student of combining the two, just as several of my university history professors would assign us literary works to read and to discuss in context of the times and locales. I learned much more about literature and critical theory from history professors than I ever learned from literature professors.