Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan

 I went in search of this book when I saw it was on the list for this month's Stonebridge neighbors book club. I've been invited multiple times but haven't made it yet, but will this time. I was able to check this book out of the Santa Clara library, and I read it in just a few days. It was a good read, not especially well-written, but it's a compelling story, based on a real person.

Pino Lella is the main character, and my favorite part of the book was near the beginning when he lived in a boys' school, high up in the Alps, near the Swiss border. He was sent there from his family in Milan for safety as the Nazi's were rampant in Italy. His faith and strength under difficult circumstances leading Jews over icy mountains was inspiring to me! I loved that part, and Pino was at his most faithful and blessed.

The rest of the book is filled with pain and violence, and the other main character is the German general that Pino is the driver for. He has lots of conflicting feelings about General Leyers and it's hard to watch the continuing atrocities unfold. I didn't know about all of the horrors happening in Italy, so it was new to me. I liked the Milanese family characters that surround Pino, and Father Re, the priest in the Alps whom he respects so much.

I found the ending and afterword very interesting as the author explains the unfolding of how he researched the story after meeting Pino in his later years. General Leyers was a real person also, as were most of the others. I liked learning about all of this, and particularly learning about Mussolini and his death.  Pino's love interest was well described, as when he found it hard to concentrate on his orders when he was day dreaming about her. He must have had a great memory for details or else the author made up a lot of details that helped me understand the milieu and gave me a real desire to visit Italy. 

Overall an interesting read, but not one I would want to read again. Too violent...and dark, despite Pino's and his family's goodness. It will be interesting to hear what these new book club ladies will hve to say...

Inferno by Dan Brown

On a recent trip to California, I was complaining to Sierra about my inability to find good books to read. I explained my methods of getting recommendations, and she had one of her own: had I ever tried Dan Brown? No, I admitted. Is he a good writer? Interesting characters? She said she thought I would enjoy the diverse settings of his novels and how much one can learn about the cities and the history he shares as his stories unfold. When we got back to South Dakota, she lent me Inferno, which is where I began. It had to be good, right, with Tom Hanks on the cover?!

Well, I have to say, it was just okay. It was good reading at the end of every busy day we had on a bike riding and pickleball trip across Minnesota. I didn't need anything great, just a little read to get me ready to sleep. This was a little more action and suspense than I'm used to, but nothing too violent or disturbing. The story moved right along, with details of miraculous escapes and twists and turns that got a little redundant....all set amidst the beautiful museums, art, and buildings of Florence. So it probably would have been more meaningful to me if I had been there and enjoyed those things as Sierra had, and then it would have been a nice memory-connection. It did make me want to explore Florence, though...

And the characters....very shallow. Kind of interesting, but only on a surface level. The villains were villainous and the heroes heroic, along with a turncoat or two. Just ho-hum. But what really surprised me was the absolute terror Dan Brown tries to instill in the reader about overpopulation. That theme is very thick throughout the book, along with terrible statistics and immoral solutions. One immoral solution is the crux of this story. All of the dire predictions about the impending doom of our planet are presented as scientific facts...this blatant political subplot interfered with my enjoyment of the book. Actually, not that much, since my enjoyment level was pretty low anyway, but I was surprised at this author's attempt to propagate his views. Maybe I'm just unaware of how bad our situation is, but this story did nothing to convince me of its veracity. If I were on Amazon, I would give this two stars--one for the beautiful descriptions of Florence and its art, and one for the introduction to Dante's literary work.