The Open Book Podcast
with David Steinberger

A behind-the-scenes look at books and publishing

Join us for wide-ranging discussions with publishers, editors, authors, journalists, thinkers, executives, and other makers of culture, hosted by David Steinberger, CEO of Open Road Media and Chairman of the National Book Foundation.

Listen Now:

How to Sleep at Night

Elizabeth Harris

Journalist and Author

Journalist Elizabeth Harris reports on books and the publishing industry for The New York Times. She shares her 16-year career journey from clerk to staff writer, her thoughts on the book industry, and the process of writing her first novel, How to Sleep at Night.

INTERVIEWED ON: March 5th, 2025

Books discussed:

How to Sleep at Night by Elizabeth Harris

Meet Ethan and Gabe. A devoted couple for years, they have successful careers, an adorable daughter, and a house in the New Jersey suburbs. Sure, they may have drifted to different ends of the political spectrum, but their marriage still has its spark. Then one night Ethan makes an announcement: he wants to run for Congress as a Republican—but only if he has progressive Gabe’s blessing.

Mooch the Messy by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Only for love does a very messy young rat clean up his hole to make his father's visit happier.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

A poet lives for more than three centuries, becomes a woman, and ages only twenty years in this classic fantastical work by the author of Mrs. Dalloway.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.