VETERANS DAY and BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK by Ben Fountain

It is Veterans Day here in these United States, a day that has become long on ceremony and short on genuine human feeling.

This is addressed, to a considerable degree, in Ben Fountain's novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, though the book features the halftime of a Dallas Cowboys football game on Thanksgiving rather than Veterans Day itself.

Folks should be mindful of their military veterans, but they should also be mindful of the way the psychopathic war-mongers have of manipulating common men into serving their selfish political/material ends.  Reading Ben Fountain's novel, you're aware of all the hype and commercial trappings making a mockery of the very real service of men and women trying to do the right thing.

This next week, I'll be posting my Best Novels of 2012 list.  Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk will be on it.

Meanwhile, Happy Veterans Day to all those other veterans out there.