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Welcome back to Insider Pix, where we uncover what entertainment and culture insiders are watching, reading, and listening to! Next up:
Leigh Haber
Leigh Haber is a seasoned publishing executive who spent a decade overseeing Oprah’s Book Club and book coverage for O Magazine and Oprah Daily, where she served as VP, Books. Her wide-ranging career has included roles as an editor, publicity director, producer, speechwriter, and book reviewer, and she has worked with authors including Al Gore, Steve Martin, Terry Gross, and Alice Walker. She now joins Sourcebooks as VP, Executive Director of Communications and Special Projects.
Leigh’s 5 Picks
A 5-star-worthy book you’d recommend to anyone?
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai. Yes, it’s 700-something pages, but it’s an epic love story alongside a portrait of alienation and displacement—a gorgeously written novel by the Booker Prize-winning author of The Inheritance of Loss.
Best TV show you’ve watched recently?
It’s a tie between Hacks and The Comeback. Hacks is hilarious—the relationship between its two stars is so complex and electric. Jean Smart is a genius. And The Comeback is off-kilter in a way that is so Lisa Kudrow. Riveting.
Best movie you watched recently?
Michael, starring Jaafar Jackson. I know there will be haters for this choice, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Jaafar’s performance was off the charts, and I’d forgotten how great the music is.
A hidden gem you wish more people knew about?
The film Juliet, Naked. Starring Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, and Chris O’Dowd—I love its quirky warmth.
Go-to weekly podcast?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler. She’s like the embodiment of fun. Takes me out of my head. That episode with Will Ferrell?? Awkward and hilarious.
Pix: What is the best book you’ve read so far this year, and what made it stand out?
LH: It’s a tie between The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout and Whistler by Ann Patchett. I didn’t want either of them to end.
Pix: You spent over a decade as the Director of Oprah’s Book Club. Is there a particular Oprah's Book Club selection or author that holds a special place in your heart, and what makes it so memorable?
LH: I can narrow it down to three. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is one. I’d loved Tayari’s Silver Sparrow but wasn’t able to get Oprah to select it, so when An American Marriage came out, I was all over it. And Tayari is a delight. We picked The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and that was before he won the Pulitzer. Very proud of that one. And then Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. I think those who read it with us began to view racism in a completely different way.
Pix: If you could host a dream dinner party with three authors—dead or alive—who's getting an invitation and why?
LH: Toni Morrison, for sure. I adore her fiction, but she was also such a great essayist and thinker. She would preside over the dinner party, in my fantasy. (and of course Oprah did hold a dinner party on camera with her…) Amor Towles would have to be there, because he’s such a classic gentleman and I love his white suits. And I’d have to go with Toni Cade Bambara as our third. She and Toni were friends and colleagues, and TCB is such an underrated writer. She also had a sparkling personality–radiated warmth and humor.
Pix: You are the director of The Ink Book Club, which has a call to action for all bibliophiles: “In this era of book banning, be fierce!” If you could put a banned book into every reader’s hands, which would you pick and why?
LH: The 1619 Project, by Nikole Hannah-Jones. We have to start looking at our country’s history more realistically if we are going to move forward in a productive way.