Unlike Foucault's Pendulum which is a wild romp through the history of conspiracies, The Name of the Rose is a mystery set so deeply in Catholic Church historical controversy that your read will be greatly enhanced by outside resources unless you are intimately familiar with the times and fractures within the Church.

I would recommend not only this book, but the companion The Key to the Name of the Rose by Adele J. Haft and Robert J. White.

Now lest the idea of reading one tome while keeping another handy for reference sounds too much like schoolwork, let me offer an out; the mystery itself is enough to justify reading this book alone at a sitting, (have food sent in). It is tightly crafted, offers all necessary clues to the reader (no cheating on the protagonist's part), and offers plenty of characterization to satisfy anyone.

However, to understand why the occupants of this monastery live in suspicion and fear, to understand why our hero William of Baskerville might be on shaky ground himself, and just to savor well placed Latin without recourse to a textbook - accept a slightly slower read in exchange for a much richer interweaving of plot lines and characters frequently the cat's paw for much larger forces.