The English language is a funny thing, especially when “breaking-in” something is what you do to prevent something from breaking. But there it is.

I love hardcover books. The quality of paper the printers use is generally of a higher quality, and the bindings tend to last longer. But a good binding will only last if it is treated properly. When you get a new book, you never want to open it straight down the middle when you first handle it. Doing this can damage or even crack the spine and ruin your new book. Instead, you want to ease it open, little by little.

When I got a new set of leather bound scriptures for my birthday a few years ago, it came with a little set of instructions on how to condition its new binding. I asked my son to help demonstrate how it’s done with the new collection of Sherlock Holmes he got for Christmas.

Here we go.

Start with your book, flat on a table, with the spine down. Like this:

Open the front cover and lay it down on the table. Then open the book to the twentieth page or so, and smooth the pages down with your hand. Nice and gently. Don’t force anything.

Do the same thing on the other side.

Go back to the first side, and turn down another ten or twenty pages, and smooth them down. Repeat with the other side. Keep going with another twenty pages, and alternate back and forth between the front and the back.

When you reach the middle, you’re done. Close the book, open to the first page, and start reading. Now that, my friends, is elementary.

While I was posting this, I was happy to find similar instructions from the bookbinder William Matthews.

A few of you voted on which book to do for July, and Sense and Sensibility beat out These Is My Words. Since These is My Words is one of my favorites, we’ll do it next month. I think you’ll love it.But now, to Sense and Sensibility . . . 

Ah, Jane Austen. I don’t think we could have gone on with the book club very long without doing something from her. Not only did she write in a time when female authors were a rare breed, but she also wrote when the English novel was relatively new to the whole scene of literature. —I love how she takes strong women and places them in probable situations of her age—quite horrible situations, actually, where having the freedom to choose her own destiny was very limited.

I love Sense and Sensibility for the fact that it really has two main characters: Elinor and Marianne. And that will give us a lot to talk about.

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I guess it’s been ages, but awhile back, I asked my readers on facebook what kinds of posts they would like to see more of. My good friend from high school mentioned I should do a post on our favorite baby books. Since a lot of our board books have been lost over the years, while others have been chewed to death, the kids and I put this list together of all the favorite books we can remember.

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I am one of the lucky girls. I have a mom who supports me intellectually, spiritually, and all other facets of my life. I am sure we log at least five hours per week talking on the phone. She is one of my best friends, and I hope my little girl will grow up to have a similar friendship with me. I took that picture the last time I was in Massachusetts with my mom. My little girl is only five there, and I can’t believe how much has happened since that day. So why am I talking about my mom and my daughter? To introduce you to our latest book for our book club . . .

When Sarah Bryden-Brown showed me her recent ebook Stories I’ve Only Told My Mom, I decided to do an extra book club this month. It’s an easy read—just a collection of essays—from some of the great bloggers around the web. Some of the essays had me laughing, while others made the tears fall down my face for the entire read.

I picked my three favorites for our discussion, but of course, you can mention any of them in the comments section. It’s up to you.

The first story that hit me was by Amy Thompson, who writes the blog Progressive Pioneer. She calls her essay “Things I’d Like to Tell My Mom.” Once you read it, you’ll know why I was crying. It’s beautiful.

The first essay in the list also struck me. It’s called “$17,000″ and is by Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind.

“Ashes and Rebirth”, by Meg Keene—author of The Practical Wedding—is poignant, and one of my favorites.

I don’t want to spill everything I read until some of you get a chance to read the essays, so once you read them, make a comment, and I’ll add to whatever you say. You can even start by asking a question, like “What did you think about the part where she says_________?”

Oh, and for those of you who don’t have a kindle, don’t worry. I downloaded mine for free onto my computer. Since it isn’t a long book, reading it on the computer won’t hurt your eyes.

And now I will confess something I am very much ashamed of: I have never read Jane Eyre.

I am now pausing while I can feel your virtual rotten tomatoes smashing into my face. I am sorry. I have never read it. Or at least, not the whole thing. Surely I read enough of it in tenth grade English to get by with a quickie book report. But that’s all.

And is it sad of me that I only now want to read it because the new movie looks so good? And I know Rochester is supposed to be on the homely side, but I have to say, he’s the reason I’m so excited to go see the movie. I suppose if I invest a couple of hours into a movie, I want Rochester to be at least ambiguously handsome. I guess I just like eye candy.

Here is the trailer:

I want to squeeze in reading it before I break down and watch the movie.

And so, this will be our book club book for June.

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Our new favorite picture book around here was a Christmas gift to my son. Splat the Cat, by Rob Scotton, is about a kitty who overcomes his fears on his first day of cat school. With brilliant and funny illustrations, it is the kind of golden children’s book that families will want to read again and again.

But in case you’re still not convinced, this is what my son had to say:

me: Tell me about Splat the Cat.

CKR: Um, he rides a silly looking bike.

me: Why does he ride a silly looking bike?

CKR: Because it’s an old fashioned book.

me: What’s the book about?

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by SRR

When I saw this book I thought it was like any other book you would see.  I was at my mom’s friend’s house and I felt I was going to die of boredom.  I asked my mom (the sophistimom) for something to do and her friend pulled a book from their shelf and it was The Name of this Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch.

There are supposed to be five books in the Secret Series, and I’ve read the first three. The first is of course The Name of this Book Is Secret, then the second is If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late. They are followed by This Book Is Not Good For You, and This Isn’t What It Looks Like. The last book, which comes out on September 21st, will be called You Have to Stop This.

Now let’s get to the story.

Cassandra, a 12 year old survivalist stumbles across a dead magician’s Symphony of Smells, a box of little vials that contain different smells in them. She teams up with Max-Ernest to find out clues.  They discover the dead magician’s hidden notebook and get tied up fighting for the gift of immortality.  Each book is associated with a different sense; the first ties in with smell. The most recent one I read, This Book Is Not Good For You, is all about taste. Particularly chocolate. Which brings us to revealing the name of the secret sandwich, which we posted a few days ago.

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Each one of my kids had a party in school for Dr. Seuss’s birthday. The two in elementary even got to dress in their PJs and read books all day.

Last week, my oldest son played him in the school wax museum. It was so cute—all the fifth graders had done a report on one of the fifty states, and then had to play an important person from that state. Each one of them dressed up, and struck a pose at their seat until someone would press a fake button on their desk.

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. . . then Robert Sabuda is one because, because, because, because, because . . . because of the wonderful books he does!

I can’t believe I’ve never mentioned them before.

I bought my first Robert Sabuda book several years ago after watching a little segment on Martha Stewart Living about his Wizard of Oz pop-up book. Since that time, he has brought pop-up books to a whole new level. We have a small collection of his titles—The Night Before Christmas, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Each one is mind-boggling.

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I don’t know why we’ve never done this before on sophistimom—it seems so obvious. Of course we need a book club!!

Our first book for the club will be Matched by the lovely Ally Condie.

Here’s what it’s about:

Cassia lives in a world where nearly everything is decided for her: what she eats, how she sleeps, where she works. She is even told whom she is to marry.

At her matching banquet, she sees the face of her best friend, and everything seems perfect. A peaceful life stretches out before her.

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