"Fail Sons is a book about aging and mortality; fathers, sons, and brothers; failure and grief." Adam Wilson shared a playlist for his novel Fail Sons at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/08/a...
David Gutowski
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
I read and write and listen to music. A lot. Mostly in Brooklyn. Largehearted Boy is my website.
"Although I didn't listen to Billie Holiday while writing the novel, her music haunted my imagination throughout the process." Jocelyn Cullity shared a playlist for her novel The Nurse at Baker Hospital at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/08/j...
"Although I made a vibes playlist for the book early in my drafting process, I’m one of those people who can’t write to most songs..." Nafissa Thompson-Spires shared a playlist for her debut novel The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/07/n...
"Given the dialogic nature of our book it seems only right to have this playlist move back and forth..." David Naimon shared a playlist for his book Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/07/d...
"I had to set a chapter in hell, of course, and there's an echo of country music in my mind at least to a few of the chapters in the book." Grace Byron shared a playlist for her debut novel Herculine at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/06/g...
"Creating playlist is among my top favorite activities. It’s basically my love language. What a fun and stimulating thing to build one around my novel Asbestos, where music plays such an enveloping role." Sébastien Dulude shared a playlist for his novel Asbestos largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/06/s...
"Indeed, because the novel is part detective story and part doomed romance, George Benson’s This Masquerade—whose bluesy melancholy is the perfect accompaniment to a noir tale…" Clifford Thompson shared a playlist for his debut novel Let Us Go Then, You and I largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/05/c...
"Pierre Rousseau felt like a great opener to set the tone of this playlist, capturing the strange etherealness I hope my pen achieved with The Tumor in The Clay." Nick Francis shared a playlist for his graphic novel The Tumor in the Clay at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/02/n...
"This soundtrack is like my brain - soft, loud, quiet, and cheerful. Pour yourself a cup of chai as you take a listen." Chital Mehta shared a playlist for her debut novel Have You Seen Romit? at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/01/c...
"Assembled Audience is a book I wrote over four years from 2019 to 2024, about the ways people gather together..." Erika Meitner shared a playlist for her poetry collection Assembled Audience largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/30/e...
"The book is definitely setting-dependent, so it made sense to create a playlist that draws on the rich musical traditions of Alabama and the Appalachian mountains." Scott Gould shared a playlist for his novel Beneath a Fallen Sky at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/29/s...
“I may not mention songs or cite catchy pop lyrics in the story, but the book references so many places specific to musical life in the Bay Area...” Tomas Moniz shared a playlist for his novel The King of Aloe Vera at Largehearted Boy. largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/28/t...
"New Skin is so demented, and so is Mr. Bungle." Sarah Wang shared a playlist for her debut novel New Skin at Largehearted Boy. largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/27/s...
"Music is core to this novel, and although I mostly listen to ambient music while writing, these are the songs that make up its DNA, freckled with nostalgia but facing the future." Ankur Thakkar shared a playlist for his novel Blow Yourself Up at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/25/a...
"Many traditional lullabies used scary elements to make sure children stayed safe and still in bed. It is an interesting combination of comforting and frightening." Regina McBride shared a playlist for her novel Stranger From Across the Sea at Largehearted Boy. largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/24/r...
"What does madness sound like?" Jody Chan shared a playlist for their poetry collection Madness Belongs to the People at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/24/j...
"In putting together my playlist, I wanted to give a sample of some of my favorite ghostly music." May-Lee Chai shared a playlist for her essay collection My Hungry Ghosts at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/23/m...
"My new novel, Incarnate, is story about a Faustian bargain made by a young woman who wants to be a breakout success on social media." Alma Katsu shared a playlist for her novel Incarnate at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/22/a...
"Here are songs for haunted houses and ruined gardens and endless afternoons." Norah Labiner shared a playlist for her novel Morocco at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/22/n...
"So much of the process of writing this book occurred in silence, and yet, I always longed to evoke a sense of the soundscape of the asylum.” Doireann Ní Ghríofa shared a playlist for her novel Said the Dead at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/21/d...
"The frontier is an imaginary place and always has been, a fact that allowed what I listened to while writing Observer to be as wide-ranging as the people in the American West." Nicholas Russell shared a playlist for his debut novel Observer at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/18/n...
“I’m very feeling-centered in my work; you could call me a largehearted girl.” Isabelle Correa shared a playlist for her poetry collection Portrait of a Person Who Pushes Love Away in Fear of Losing It at Largehearted Boy. largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/17/i...
"...this playlist is a direct reflection of what I was forced to listen to during some of the most impressionable years of my life." Genevieve Plunkett shared a playlist for one of the year’s most impressive debut novels, The Lonely Girl's Vegetable Patch largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/15/g...
"...the book has lightness, too, because darkness and misery can be funny if you look for it, and because childhood is strange and magical and incomprehensible." Brittany Perham shared a playlist for her memoir Executrix at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/15/b...
“You’ll find the playlist touches grief but doesn’t stay there…” Nina Schuyler shared a playlist for her novel Open the Floodgates at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/15/n...
“Music, like writing, has helped me come to terms with the fact that pathology is what I make of it.” Matthew Wong Foreman shared a music playlist for his debut novel Sunset at Lion Rock at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/15/m...
"The revised playlist succinctly reflects the heart of my novel—two women overcoming angst and striving toward hope with a heavy helping of family drama." Erin Miller Reid shared a playlist for her debut novel But for Fortune at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/14/e...
"In my novel, pop culture proves to be diabolical, but not so with these songs." Camille Acker shared a playlist for her debut novel A Very Special Episode at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/09/c...
"My playlist is comprised of songs that soundtrack the ATLien’s journey, but also the seven years I spent writing the rest of the book..." Marcus Wicker shared a playlist for his poetry collection Dear Mothership at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/09/m...
"Perhaps because at my core I am a musician and a former performing pianist who became a critic and author, I almost never listen to music when I’m writing. Music is too powerful for me." Anthony Tommasini shared a playlist for his book Voice of a Century largeheartedboy.com/2026/09/08/a...
