“Years ago, I learned it helps me to have a playlist for each manuscript...“ Molly Gaudry shared a playlist for her memoir/novel Fit Into Me at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/12/15/m...

"I write, unfortunately, by feel. I can often sense there’s some connection or disruption between ideas or events or questions and so I write towards them. It’s incredibly inefficient." Jeremy B. Jones shared a playlist for his memoir Cipher at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/16/j...

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!

So honored to be one of @largeheartedboy.bsky.social’s favorite short story collections this year. What an amazing lineup!

Largehearted Boy's favorite poetry collections of the year include titles by Chet’la Sebree, Gary Jackson, Isabella DeSendi, Miller Oberman, Theodora Ziolkowski, and Yael Valencia Aldana largeheartedboy.com/2025/12/07/l...

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...

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...

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...

"I don’t 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...

Once again, I am aggregating essential and interesting year-end "best of 2025" book lists at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/17/e...

"My collection, The Plan of Chicago: A City in Stories, has an unusual structure – nine linked stories set in nine Chicago neighborhoods – 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...

"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...

“Cursed 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.” Oyinkan Braithwaite shared a playlist for her novel Cursed Daughters largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/13/o...

"...it’s 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...

"Like many debuts, People With No Charisma is a partly autobiographical coming-of-age story...autobiographical in terms of theme, and the protagonist’s disco outfit." Jente Posthuma & Sarah Timmer Harvey shared a playlist for the novel People with No Charisma largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/10/j...

"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...

"‘The Hills are Alive’ 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...

"Another Bone-Swapping Event tells the story of an unlikely year when I found myself stuck, due to Peru’s 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...

"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...

"...music is all over my book—from 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...

"Making a playlist that feels like the book I’m writing is the very first thing I do – even before I’ve 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

"My writing playlist for this book was very much dictated by...Beach House’s 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...

"I like to think I’m directing a story, just on paper and I sadly don’t 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...

"Wreck is technically a novel but it’s 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...

"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...

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

ICYMI, had a blast making playlist for the book!!

"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...

"I wrote this book about a period of upheaval – a major breakup, two big moves, a time-honoured mid-twenties existential scramble – 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...

"...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...

"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...

"White Flight deconstructs masculinity from within, and my aim is for it to be a lesson to the world about why we—and, although I do now hold a PhD, I include myself in this group—are the way we are." Bill Hillmann shared a playlist for his novel White Flight largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/19/b...

“These are a few songs we think evoke the timelessness of made-up places and the joy of being part of an outdoor adventure.”x @bethrooney.bsky.social & @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social shared a playlist for their children’s book Leaf Town Forever at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/16/b...

"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...

"I generally don’t 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...

"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...

"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

"The minute I focus on music, I can no longer focus on anything else—including writing." Tamar Shapiro shared a playlist for her debut novel Restitution at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/09/t...

"Fiction writers always reveal themselves in their work, whether they mean to or not. I’m obsessed with music, and it’s 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...

"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...

“I don’t listen to music while I write, but it plays a big part in my process while I’m away from my desk...” Patrick Ryan shared a playlist for his novel Buckeye at @largeheartedboy.bsky.social largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/06/p...

"...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...

"This playlist features both English- and Arabic-language songs to represent the dichotomy of the two cultures and what it’s 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...

"...my mom’s silent treatment seems more like noise music. It’s 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

"These songs are a combination of soundtrack, characterization, and glimpses into what didn’t make it on the page—as important for my novel-in-omissions as what the reader does get to see." E. Y. Zhao shared a playlist for her novel Underspin at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/02/e...

“I realized after I’d put the playlist together that many of these songs have a story behind them of a woman triumphing…” Mahreen Sohail shared a playlist for her story collection Small Scale Sinners at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/10/01/m...

"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 book’s themes and sensibility will resonate..." Grady Chambers shared a playlist for his novel Great Disasters largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/30/g...

“I spent nearly a decade writing and re-writing this book, and in that time I racked up thousands of records and ticket stubs...” @mlrio.bsky.social shared a playlist for her novel Hot Wax largeheartedboy.com/2025/09/29/m...

"While music doesn’t play a large role in Oona’s 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...

"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