I read and write and listen to music. LHB is my website. Words at @longreads, @mcsweeneys, @PBS,... davidgutowski.com largeheartedboy.substack.com
Joined July 2006
- Tweets 49,698
- Following 3,682
- Followers 27,820
- Likes 50,107
6,771 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
31 Jan 2023
Today is @largeheartedboy's 21st birthday. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the site's success. Writers, musicians, booksellers, friends, readers, and publishers have all been essential parts of the books music equation (that equals love) largeheartedboy.substack.com…
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"The protagonists in both my fiction and nonfiction narratives—including my memoir—are almost always people who try to do the right thing and fail."
Stephen O'Connor shared a playlist for his novel We Want So Much to Be Ourselves at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/06/…
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"In 1960s Cuba...Felix is careful about who he plays his American records with. It’s an element that runs through the novel and mirrors all the other things that Felix must hide...to survive."
Chantel Acevedo shared a playlist for Cages largeheartedboy.com/2026/06/…
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"This playlist is a collection of songs that brought me back to my spirit, my roots, and my resilience, which is so deeply rooted in the strength of the global majority. "
Cinelle Barnes shared a playlist for her memoir A Way Home at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/06/…
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"…as I imagined writing this book, I went for comfort listens, feel-good familiar songs, that, when listened to closely, revealed an underlayer of death, destruction, loss. Apocalypse songs."
Deb Olin Unferth shared a playlist for her novel Earth 7 largeheartedboy.com/2026/06/…
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The melody of thought, the soul of rhythm, the solidarity of harmony – all of it must be intrinsic to the functioning of democracy..."
Ed Simon shared a playlist for his book American Elegy at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/06/…
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"The music and writing are in conversation. They’re conversation partners. One influences the other."
Ross McMeekin shared a playlist for his novel Pepperleaf at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/06/…
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"Like good poetry, this song is slick, shimmering, heavy, metal, and reflective."
Nicholas Goodly shared a playlist for his poetry collection Star Power at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/06/…
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"Music is always playing on the car radio, in roadside diners, on clunky boom boxes, and in the heads of many of the characters, giving context and texture to their lives.
Hillary Behrman shared a playlist for her debut story collection Lake Effect largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"To write this novel, I built out a four-hour-long playlist that tracked the plot, beat for beat. Musical cues helped me escalate tension, or keep the energy at a simmer..."
Natalie Adler shared a playlist for her debut novel Waiting on a Friend largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"I remember lying back on my bed...listening to Simon and Garfunkel...and thinking, If I could express myself even a fraction as well as these musicians express themselves, I could survive."
Nin Andrews shared a playlist for her memoir Son of a Bird largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"If you play these LPs while serving people huge amounts of good food and wine, guests cannot but let their hair down and disport themselves."
Cat Fitzpatrick shared a playlist for her novel in verse The Dinner Party at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/… @7StoriesPress
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"Receiving a mixtape was the highest honor; making one, the greatest responsibility."
Hugh Ryan shared a playlist for his book, My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"In true '90s fashion, at one point, I sent him a mix tape."
Amy Crider shared a playlist for her memoir Catching an Orange at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"I listened to so much music as I wrote. I love music. And I included a lot of it, knitted into the writing. I can't imagine writing novels without music, honestly."
Caitlin Shetterly shared a playlist for her novel The Gulf of Lions at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"This is a set list of brokenhearted love songs, so listen to it when you want exactly that"
@Rebecca Chace shared a playlist for her novel Talking to the Wolf at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"...when you’re looking for a certain entry point to your writing, a tone or mood or feeling (grim in this case), then it's nice to have a song that can ease you into that mood as into a warm bath."
Nick Cutter shared a playlist for his novel The Dorians largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"In the days after I came out, I would sit in my small house, cut off from everything...Music brought me a lot of deep healing as I learned how to be okay."
largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"...the protagonist is a music lover, a concert goer, and music of a certain kind, in a certain register, can be imagined as floating around the edges of the story."
Eric Beck Rubin shared a playlist for his novel Ten Clear Days at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"At the keyboard in the morning, I feel the pressure to perform. To sing. I love a musical sentence."
TJ Fuller shared a playlist for his story collection Some Stupid Glow at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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"Much of my book Afternoon Hours of a Hermit concerns memory and the techniques of fiction which I have tried to pass onto my students."
Patrick Cottrell shared a playlist for his novel Afternoon Hours of a Hermit at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/…
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