I think it was the Fourth of July

*war vs. peace
*age vs. youth
*delusion vs. reality
*fate vs. chance
*faith vs. science
*are global conflicts macabre funhouse reflections of our personal ones?
*are we making choices and controlling the consequences or are we just kidding ourselves?
All of this and more plays out in Saturday by Ian McEwen. It's a lot to cover in one day for my man Ian, but he does so in his usual style; page after page filled with concise, vivid prose. It's beautiful stuff, people, but also alternately funny and touching and tense. Check it out and thank me later.

Oh, and on the Saturday in question in the book, there is a huge protest in London against the impending invasion of Iraq. I was in Rome during a very similar peace (pace!) rally in February of 2003. Close to a million people showed up. That is a fucking mass of humanity, my friends. It was both thrilling and a little frightening. I think the skeery was due to all the police in riot gear combined with that pesky history of Italian fascism.