I've started speaking about this book with my gf for about 2 or 3 years now, even though I haven't read it (and will not read it in the near future, as my to-read-next list is quite big and always growing). I find it's an excellent book, and much more so as it's recommended by a writer like Eco, a guy who I did actually read (even though that happened 20 years ago, so the details are fuzzy) and who forever influenced my view on books and how to read and interpret them.
I also heartily recommend Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket". I'm not from an English-speaking country so it wasn't required reading for me while in school, but I nevertheless found its no-ending thingie as the quintessence of modern literature. In fact, Eco has often talked about the Gordon Pym story, one of the characters of one of his novels is named exactly like that.
Bayard's book is a masterpiece; I found it hilarious and recommended it to a friend, who has taken to it so much he buys copies for others and often uses “Bayardian” as an adjective. All the stuff surrounding the book only add to its enjoyment (after you've read it), such as the fact that there was a question mark in the original title which went away in the translation, the author's coy refusal to say whether he was serious or joking, and his insistence in interviews that the opinions in the book are not his own but that of a fictionalized persona…
I think I found this book because it was highly rated on the interesting complete review site (its review of this book is here: http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/books/bayardp.htm). Not everyone is likely to enjoy this book (some found it pointless), but worth taking a look.