David Gutowski
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
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š„ 649
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I read and write and listen to music. A lot. Mostly in Brooklyn. Largehearted Boy is my website.
āYears ago, I learned it helps me to have a playlist for each manuscript...ā Molly Gaudry shared a playlist for her memoir/novel Fit Into Me at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/12/15/m...
19 days ago
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reposted by
David Gutowski
"I write, unfortunately, by feel. I can often sense thereās some connection or disruption between ideas or events or questions and so I write towards them. Itās incredibly inefficient." Jeremy B. Jones shared a playlist for his memoir Cipher at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/16/j...
4 months ago
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reposted by
David Gutowski
Kristina Ten
25 days ago
Honored to see Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine on
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
's roundup of favorite story collections in 2025, alongside great books by
@juliaelliott.bsky.social
,
@ellomelissa.bsky.social
,
@egreenberg.bsky.social
, and more!
add a skeleton here at some point
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reposted by
David Gutowski
Emily Greenberg
25 days ago
So honored to be one of
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
ās favorite short story collections this year. What an amazing lineup!
add a skeleton here at some point
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Largehearted Boy's favorite poetry collections of the year include titles by Chetāla Sebree, Gary Jackson, Isabella DeSendi, Miller Oberman, Theodora Ziolkowski, and Yael Valencia Aldana
largeheartedboy.com/2025/12/07/l...
26 days ago
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Largehearted Boy's favorite short fiction collections of the year include titles by Emily Greenberg, Julia Liz Elliott, Kerry Donoghue, Kristina Sergeevna Ten, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, and Sara Jaffe
largeheartedboy.com/2025/12/07/l...
26 days ago
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Largehearted Boy's favorite nonfiction books of the year include titles by Jeannie Vanasco, Melissa Fraterrigo, Rasheedah Phillips, Giaae Kwon, A. Kendra Greene, and jesse james rose
largeheartedboy.com/2025/12/07/l...
26 days ago
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My favorite novels of 2025 include titles by Adelaide Faith, Paula Bomer, Zoe Dubno, Sebastian Castillo, Maggie Su, Isaac Fellman, Erica Peplin, Dennard Dayle, Emily Hunt Kivel, Cynthia Weiner, Colwill Brown, and Ariel Courage
largeheartedboy.com/2025/12/07/l...
26 days ago
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"I donāt listen to music when I write, because I need total silence to hear my own thoughts, but playlists are still an essential part of my writing process" Nikkitha Bakshani shared a playlist for her debut novel Ghost Chilli at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/23/n...
about 1 month ago
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Once again, I am aggregating essential and interesting year-end "best of 2025" book lists at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/17/e...
about 1 month ago
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"My collection, The Plan of Chicago: A City in Stories, has an unusual structure ā nine linked stories set in nine Chicago neighborhoods ā and unusual range." Barry Pearce shared a playlist for his story collection The Plan of Chicago at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/16/b...
about 2 months ago
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"This is the soundtrack of my fictional rendition of growing up fatherless in Florida and, later, of raising a son in Southern California." Randy Moffett shared a playlist for his debut novel Only Son at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/15/k...
about 2 months ago
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āCursed Daughters is a story that begins in the mid-'90s in Nigeria and ends in present-day Nigeria, and music was one of the tools I used to anchor the characters in their different eras.ā Oyinkan Braithwaite shared a playlist for her novel Cursed Daughters
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/13/o...
about 2 months ago
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"...itās a Great Black Swamp-adjacent list. Songs that evoke the vibe of this dangerous, deadly, forgotten wasteland, and the unbelievable story of its deforestation." Patrick Wensink shared a playlist for his book The Great Black Swamp at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/12/p...
about 2 months ago
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"Like many debuts,Ā People With No CharismaĀ is a partly autobiographical coming-of-age story...autobiographical in terms of theme, and the protagonistās disco outfit." Jente Posthuma & Sarah Timmer Harvey shared a playlist for the novel People with No Charisma
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/10/j...
about 2 months ago
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"I wish I had a magic wand to wave over the compositions listed here, plucking and splicing the relevant phrase or movement from each..."
@dianebotnick.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her debut novel Becoming Sarah at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/09/d...
about 2 months ago
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"āThe Hills are Aliveā tinkles away under the opening of my second memoir, Hitler and My Mother-in-Law, part of which takes place in Berchtesgaden..." Terese Scvoboda shared a playlist for her memoir Hitler and My Mother-in-Law at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/06/t...
about 2 months ago
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"Another Bone-Swapping Event tells the story of an unlikely year when I found myself stuck, due to Peruās draconian lockdown, in the jungles of the upper Amazon." Brad Fox shared a playlist for his book Another Bone-Swapping Event at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/05/b...
about 2 months ago
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"Like my stories, the songs are pulled from a lot of different genres and time periods." Emily Mitchell shared a playlist for her story collection The Church of Divine Electricity at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/04/e...
about 2 months ago
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"...music is all over my bookāfrom Judy and Liza to Tori Amos and The Verve Pipe."
@kfoslundquist.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her memoir Beard at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/03/k...
about 2 months ago
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"Making a playlist that feels like the book Iām writing is the very first thing I do ā even before Iāve started writing the book itself." Hannah Beer shared a playlist for her debut novel I Make My Own Fun at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/02/h...
@houseofanansi.bsky.social
2 months ago
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"My writing playlist for this book was very much dictated by...Beach Houseās Once Twice Melody...an 18-track, near-90-minute behemoth from them was of course going to take over my life." Hayden Casey shared a playlist for his debut novel A Harvest of Furies
largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/01/h...
2 months ago
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"I like to think Iām directing a story, just on paper and I sadly donāt have a multi-million dollar budget."
@jasondiamond.bsky.social
shared a playlist for his debut novel Kaplan's Plot at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/29/j...
2 months ago
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"Wreck is technically a novel but itās really just a semi-autobiographical collection of feelings:" Catherine Newman shared a playlist for her novel Wreck at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/28/c...
2 months ago
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"Because the composition of this book spans over 15 years, my choices are less about remembering what song shaped the writing than thinking about what musical analogue the story evokes." Sara Jaffe shared a playlist for her story collection Hurricane Envy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/27/s...
2 months ago
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reposted by
David Gutowski
Kathleen Rooney
3 months ago
Thanks to
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
,
@bethrooney.bsky.social
& I got to make a Book Notes playlist for LEAF TOWN FOREVER from
@uminnpress.bsky.social
, including Ella Fitzgerald, Prince, Edith Piaf, Joni Mitchel, the White Stripes and more. Check it out here!
tinyurl.com/yhhycr7x
loading . . .
Beth Rooney and Kathleen Rooneyās Book Notes music playlist for their childrenās book Leaf Town Forever ā Largehearted Boy
https://tinyurl.com/yhhycr7x
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David Gutowski
Erin Somers
2 months ago
ICYMI, had a blast making playlist for the book!!
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"These are the songs I would listen to during the crucial sanity walk between drafting sessions to try to invoke the right mood."
@somers.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her novel The Ten Year Affair at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/26/e...
2 months ago
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"I wrote this book about a period of upheaval ā a major breakup, two big moves, a time-honoured mid-twenties existential scramble ā and through it all, I buoyed and understood myself through music." Maddie Ballard shared a playlist for her memoir Patchwork
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/23/m...
2 months ago
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"...music arranges the landscape into which you put your writing." Delaney Nolan shared a playlist for her debut novel Happy Bad at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/21/d...
2 months ago
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"Off the page, when I was living this story, music got me through the hardest moments and helped me celebrate the happiest."
@jamesissmiling.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her memoir sorry i keep crying during sex at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/20/j...
2 months ago
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"White Flight deconstructs masculinity from within, and my aim is for it to be a lesson to the world about why weāand, although I do now hold a PhD, I include myself in this groupāare the way we are." Bill Hillmann shared a playlist for his novel White Flight
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/19/b...
2 months ago
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āThese are a few songs we think evoke the timelessness of made-up places and the joy of being part of an outdoor adventure.āx
@bethrooney.bsky.social
&
@kathleenmrooney.bsky.social
shared a playlist for their childrenās book Leaf Town Forever at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/16/b...
3 months ago
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"Something about having a second child really messed with my relationship to music."
@annanorth.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her novel Bog Queen at
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/15/a...
3 months ago
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"I generally donāt write to a soundtrack. I rely on rhythm in my prose, and playing music interferes with that internal metronome."
@kenliu.bsky.social
shared a playlist for his novel All That We See or Seem at
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/14/k...
3 months ago
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"Much like considering the food and clothes of the time, I find that thinking about the musical world that shaped my characters is a really useful texture to help ground me in the worldbuilding of the story." Anbara Salam shared a playlist for The Salvage
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/13/a...
3 months ago
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"Sister Creatures is a novel in thirteen haunted chapters, and it only makes sense that the playlist features thirteen songs." Laura Venita Green shared a playlist for her debut novel Sister Creatures at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/12/l...
@unnamedpress.bsky.social
3 months ago
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"The minute I focus on music, I can no longer focus on anything elseāincluding writing." Tamar Shapiro shared a playlist for her debut novel Restitution at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/09/t...
3 months ago
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"Fiction writers always reveal themselves in their work, whether they mean to or not. Iām obsessed with music, and itās the main way I have shown my hand in all three of my novels..."
@lisaborders.bsky.social
shared 3(!) playlists for Last Night at the Disco
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/08/l...
3 months ago
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"You know happy-sad songs? Songs that sound happy but, if you pay attention to the lyrics at all, will completely devastate you?"
@kristinaten.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her story collection Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/07/k...
3 months ago
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āI donāt listen to music while I write, but it plays a big part in my process while Iām away from my desk...ā Patrick Ryan shared a playlist for his novel Buckeye at
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/06/p...
3 months ago
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"...people like me are happy to suggest a song for every occasion or for, in this case, each story in a collection..." David Haynes shared a playlist for his story collection Martha's Daughter at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/06/d...
3 months ago
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"This playlist features both English- and Arabic-language songs to represent the dichotomy of the two cultures and what itās like living in between."
@deenaelg.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her debut novel Dust Settles North at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/06/d...
3 months ago
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"...my momās silent treatment seems more like noise music. Itās aggressive. The distortion shifts unpredictably. It feels punishing." Jeannie Vanasco shared a playlist for her memoir A Silent Treatment at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/06/j...
@tinhouse.bsky.social
3 months ago
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"These songs are a combination of soundtrack, characterization, and glimpses into what didnāt make it on the pageāas important for my novel-in-omissions as what the reader does get to see." E.Ā Y. Zhao shared a playlist for her novel Underspin at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/02/e...
3 months ago
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āI realized after Iād put the playlist together that many of these songs have a story behind them of a woman triumphingā¦ā Mahreen Sohail shared a playlist for her story collection Small Scale Sinners at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/01/m...
3 months ago
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"At a time in which many people are asking how to make their voices heard in the face of large-scale injustice, I hope that the bookās themes and sensibility will resonate..." Grady Chambers shared a playlist for his novel Great Disasters
largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/30/g...
3 months ago
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āI spent nearly a decade writing and re-writing this book, and in that time I racked up thousands of records and ticket stubs...ā
@mlrio.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her novel Hot Wax
largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/29/m...
3 months ago
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"While music doesnāt play a large role in Oonaās life, it does play an important role in mine, and there are many songs that I will forever associate with the process of writing MARROW." Samantha Browning Shea shared a playlist for her debut novel Marrow
largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/28/s...
3 months ago
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"Epic and Lovely is 'alchemizing shit into the most beautiful thing' writ large."
@modaviau.bsky.social
shared a playlist for her novel Epic and Lovely at Largehearted Boy
largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/25/m...
@wvupress.bsky.social
3 months ago
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