Squat by Taylor Field

Life has been very good to us lately. Of course there are always little bumps in the path, but overall, I have so much to be grateful for. One small thing I wish someone could fix for me: why can't there be herbal or natural remedies that actually taste good? Because of the rheumatoid arthritis, I take about 30 pills a day. Pills aren't a big deal, open mouth, swallow, done. But the doctor has also taken me off of all dairy, so I'm drinking soy milk (vanilla flavor is much better than plain!), taking 2 tablespoons of ground flax a day, and 1 oz of noni juice a day. Is there a way to take these things that doesn't taste so awful? I've tried mixing the flax in with cereal and milk; that's no better. There have to be natural medicines out there that taste better than this! I'm going to keep trying though. If they taste bad, but work, ultimately they will be worth it.

Squat by Taylor Field is the compelling story of 24 hours in the life of a homeless man. Squid lives in a squat (an abandoned tenement building) with his friend Unc. After Squid makes a bad deal with a drug dealer named Saw, he spends the next 24 hours running for his life and trying to make sense of the life he lives. Field writes almost cinematically; you can see the book unfolding like a movie in your mind. Some descriptions fall a little flat, but the dialogue (minus profanities) is realistic. As Squid searches for some safe place, the reader goes back and forth between empathy and disgust with him. The book also raises some powerful questions about what is society’s responsibility to the poor, how much culpability do we have for their condition? Squid’s conversation with Rachel is life-changing, and the outcome while perhaps a bit unbelievable is not out of the question. All royalties from this book go to Graffiti Community Ministries Inc. There's also a movie about the book you can check out.

I'm currently reading a biography of Martha Washington and the last book in Brian McLaren's trilogy The Last Word and the Word After That. It's a discussion of the history of hell and how it relates to Scripture and our faith. I'm learning a lot, but I still find myself reading everything he says with a grain of salt. More reviews tomorrow.