David Gutowski
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largeheartedboy.bsky.social
David Gutowski
@largeheartedboy.bsky.social
I read and write and listen to music. A lot. Mostly in Brooklyn. Largehearted Boy is my website.
“Because I grew up in the church and sang in choirs for years, gospel music feels like home and a warm hug.”

Jodi M. Savage shared a playlist for her essay collection The Death of a Jaybird at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/01/02/j...
January 2, 2026 at 8:33 PM
“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...
December 15, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Reposted by David Gutowski
"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...
September 16, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by David Gutowski
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!
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...
December 8, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by David Gutowski
So honored to be one of @largeheartedboy.bsky.social’s favorite short story collections this year. What an amazing lineup!
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...
December 8, 2025 at 3:37 PM
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...
December 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
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...
December 7, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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...
December 7, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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...
December 7, 2025 at 2:46 PM
"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...
November 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Once again, I am aggregating essential and interesting year-end "best of 2025" book lists at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2025/11/17/e...
November 18, 2025 at 10:10 PM
"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...
November 16, 2025 at 2:14 PM
"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...
November 15, 2025 at 8:46 PM
“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...
November 13, 2025 at 11:43 PM
"...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...
November 12, 2025 at 9:55 PM
"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...
November 10, 2025 at 11:59 AM
"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...
November 9, 2025 at 5:56 PM
"‘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...
November 6, 2025 at 11:55 PM
"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...
November 5, 2025 at 11:05 PM
"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...
November 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
"...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...
November 3, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"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
November 2, 2025 at 4:40 PM
"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...
November 1, 2025 at 9:12 PM
"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...
October 29, 2025 at 10:44 PM
"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...
October 28, 2025 at 9:15 PM