Ghosts of Hiroshima (Charles Pellegrino, 2025)

Book club selection per POC, session held Feb 1, 2026.

Some interesting items about the two A-bombs dropped on Japan but I could never quite figure out what the author's point was.  Coincidences of a few folks who experienced the bombings in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, OK.

Couldn't keep the names straight but that worked out.

Lots of details or suggestions about physics or nuclear stuff happening immediately at the bomb drop and then in the aftermath.  Sounded cool but I didn't really understand much here. 

I was interested in the discussion of coming up with a flight plan that enabled the plane to escape the bomb. Hadn't thought about how bombs normally proceed in the direction of the dropping bomber.

Japan anything but a victim.  What was up with Japan (going back to Mejii Restoration)? The "cherry blossom" weapon - more suicide bombing. Ask China.

The POWs becoming captors, instantly - compliance/obedience.

Talking about how terrible it all was but couldn't really pick up a POV as to who was doing the wrong thing here. Sure everyone agrees that having these weapons around is a bad thing but probably also agrees better for US than Russia, Germany, Japan.  Today: Iran, etc.

Japanese internment in the US - mostly taking the second-guessing approach "oh how awful". 

Hadn't known or thought about the discrimination in Japan against folks with exposure - either had or could get "disease X" - affected jobs, marriages, schooling.

Same with Japanese who had emigrated to US and then sought to return to Japan.

Lots of cranes by a dying little girl - OK. 

Working hard to weave in Trump.

Couldn't see how it added much to John Hersey's 1946 classic ("Hiroshima") - which followed six survivors - very immediate - lacked backward-looking perspective but that probably was a plus. 

The Betrothed (Alessandro Manzoni, 1827 with revisions through 1842) (translated by Michael Moore)

Read on Kindle; print version is maybe 800 pages.

Story is written in first half of 19th century but the action is set in the 17th century. I read that it is considered a masterpiece and the first modern Italian novel.

I liked it a lot.  

Renzo and Lucia (local peasants, poor though Renzo is a valued silkworker) are engaged to be married, but the local priest (Don Abbondio) puts them off after a warning from some local toughs (known as bravi - a sort of henchmen for those who do activities requiring henchmen). In this case, a squirrelly noble named Don Rodrigo wanted to have Lucia in some way, and headed off the marriage.  The story goes on from there as Renzo and Lucia - seldom in the same location - try to evade Don Rodrigo and work through various other challenges.

The plague scenes are pretty compelling and certainly correlate to some Covid events. The Capuchins are presented as incredibly helpful. Fra Cristoforo helping Renzo and Lucia; they forgive Don Rodrigo.

Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, is helpful. The local priest is too scared to do his job.

Here's Gemini's summary -

Set in 17th-century Lombardy under Spanish rule, Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) is a cornerstone of Italian literature. The story follows two silk-weavers, Renzo and Lucia, whose plans to marry are thwarted by the local tyrant, Don Rodrigo, who desires Lucia for himself. Rodrigo intimidates the cowardly priest, Don Abbondio, into refusing the ceremony, forcing the couple to flee their village.

The narrative splits as the lovers endure a series of historical calamities. Renzo travels to Milan, where he becomes caught up in bread riots and is nearly arrested, while Lucia seeks refuge in a convent, only to be betrayed by the tragic Nun of Monza and kidnapped by the powerful "Unnamed." However, Lucia’s piety sparks a miraculous moral conversion in her captor, who eventually releases her.

Their trials culminate during the devastating Great Plague of Milan (1630). After surviving the disease, Renzo finds Lucia in a plague hospital (lazzaretto). With the help of the saintly Fra Cristoforo, who releases Lucia from a vow of celibacy she made in captivity, the couple is finally reunited. The novel concludes with their marriage, symbolizing the triumph of "Divine Providence" and the resilience of the humble against the corruption of the powerful.