..and 50 pages or so in, there is one glaring difference between my perception of the movie and what comes across in the book. In the movie, it always appeared, at least to me, that Sonny was destined to become the acting Don after Vito. Obviously, Michael wanted no part of the "family business" anyway, but I was never quite sure if Vito would have stepped over Sonny to go with Mike, if it had come to that. The book however states that Mike was Vito's first choice, and that with Sonny's temper, and accompanying irrational decision-making, he may have to find someone else to take his place.

I'm interested to find out who you think might have been his choice had Mike not relented. Tessio or even Hagen (though "not a wartime consiglieri") perhaps?