The more I read, the more I write. No surprise there.

Lately, it's been Marius Kociejowski's A Factotum in the Book Trade, given to me among a box of treasures from my dear CS. The name "Kociejowski" afforded me the chance to remind myself of the Polish ł -- though I'm not sure how he would pronounce it himself, being a Brit through and through. His talking reminds me of James Herriot, the kindly veterinarian diarist from Darrowby.

Near Factotum on my bookshelf is When Memory Speaks, a book that describes how people tell the stories of their own lives. And boy, does CS have some wonderful stories. He has a life, too, and a teaching method, that the world needs to hear about. I got the idea to become a biographer from Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead, and now, nine months since my return to Nashville, I learn how to listen to someone's life.

BOOKS, MUSIC, FILM

Marius Kociejowski, A Factotum in the Book Trade
Donna Tartt, The Secret History
Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land
Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow
Keith and Kristyn Getty, "An Irish Christmas"
Birdtalker, "One"
Langhorne Slim, "Strawberry Mansion - Side A"
Langhorne Slim, "Lost at Last"
The Beths, "Expert in a Dying Field"
W.A. Mozart, Flute Concerto in G Major
Paul Thomas Anderson, The Phantom Thread
Guy Ritchie, Snatch