How to Open a New Book?

November 27, 2015August 25, 2025 / rtrube54 / 6 Comments

book-opening Simple. Turn on your device. Download. Read.

Not quite so simple if you are a lover of physical books. I came across this “NOTICE” the other day and I realized I had heard this many years ago, probably from a school librarian. And I’ve basically forgotten to observe these directions all my life.

I think I’ve had the sense not to violently open books at the center, as the connoisseur in this story did, although I’ve seen new books, particularly paperbacks in bookstores, that have been ruined by this treatment.

Most often, I simply open the book at the beginning, and start reading, supporting the left side of the book and not forcing it to lie flat. I have noted that sometimes the binding becomes canted to one side and I wonder now if this might be do to failing to observe this procedure. It is clearly the case that I am pulling the book to one side as I hold it open.

The procedure the “NOTICE” outlines is to place the book on a flat surface with the back or spine against the surface. While holding the pages, let both the front and back covers down onto the table. Then alternately take a few pages at the back and then the front and gently press them down, continuing until you reach the center of the book. Repeat two or three times The idea is to “break in” rather than “break” the binding. Here is another description that includes diagrams:

how to open a book

A post on the Booksville blog suggests that this procedure also works for paperbacks. I would be curious to hear from those in the know if this is indeed the case. The binding is different in a paperback. Clearly I can see that violently forcing the book at the center is not a good idea. I also am wondering if this is the current wisdom among bookbinders, archivists and others who work with books. The notice and diagrams look old and I wonder if thinking about this has changed at all. The “Wikihow” on this subject is more modern and recommends the same procedure and also has recommendations for caring for our books (another post!).

This makes me wonder about the etiquette of browsing a book in a bookstore, which probably could (and might be) a blog post in itself. Should I gently “break in” a book I’m browsing, or leave that to the eventual buyer? Clearly, I don’t want to smudge it with greasy or sticky fingers, or crease pages. I really wonder here what is most considerate to bookseller and book buyer.

What is clear is that I will approach my next new book differently. Rather than just plunge in, I will “break in” first–at least until someone shows me a better way!

Magic Moments in Reading

August 20, 2015August 19, 2015 / rtrube54 / Leave a comment

You know those moments. You are reading and the magic happens. It could be an exquisite description, an evocative scene, an insight that makes sense of the perplexing, an unexpected but thrilling plot turn, or a satisfying resolution. They are the moments that make reading special. Here are some of mine:

Aslan’s romp with the children when he comes back from the dead in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
The arrival of the hobbits at Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings. Not the end of the journey but a truly “homely home”.
The banquet scene in Babette’s Feast when hearts thaw and the good, the beautiful and the true are glimpsed over a magnificent meal.
The radio broadcasts on science in All The Light We Cannot See for the sense of wonder they evoke.
William Manchester’s magnificent description of Winston Churchill’s moral and political courage in The Last Lion, and particularly how he resolutely spoke against the Nazi threat when everyone else wanted to appease Hitler.
The wonderful reconciliation between Jarvis and Kumalo in Cry the Beloved Country.
The scene in My Name is Asher Lev, in which Asher and the Jews are dancing with Torah at Simchat Torah and he asks his Catholic friend if they love scripture as his people love scripture.
Hannah Coulter for its exploration of how one can look back on one’s life in a place, and begin to make sense of what in the moment was baffling.
Susan Cain’s wonderfully clarifying insights in Quiet of how introversion is not a problem but a gift.
The moment I realized in the opening pages of The Institutes that I was encountering in John Calvin a truly fine mind who could write with clarity and depth about the love and glory of God.

I suspect not all of you would agree with this last, but there you have it, there are no two of us readers alike! And thankfully, we do not have to agree. In fact, part of the delight in getting bibliophiles together is discovering delights we’ve never encountered. There is also the delight of “you, too?” when we discover shared magic moments.

While I can’t gather you all in my living room, it would be delightful to use this “social” media to share some of our “magic moments” in reading. I’d love to hear what were some of your magic moments in reading that have contributed to your love of books and appreciation of life.

Lying With Books

June 23, 2015June 22, 2015 / rtrube54 / 2 Comments

Walker Percy

This is not a post about lying on the beach with a “beach read.” It may, however apply to what you read on the beach.

I’m at a conference this week and one of our speakers quoted the American novelist Walker Percy who once said,

“Bad books always lie. They lie most of all about the human condition, so that one never recognizes oneself, the deepest part of oneself, in a bad book.” (From Signposts in a Strange Land.)

Percy goes on to observe that books may titillate and engage our attention in a voyeuristic way and yet leave us with a sour taste, because their portraits of the human condition and the moral universe they create fails to ring true. Novels that are true are similar to walls that are plumb or good carpentry where all fits.

Our speaker went on to extend this axiom to other pursuits such as economics (“bad economics always lie; they lie most about the human condition.”) He proposed that our condition is one of being “glorious ruins”, both noble with high aspirations, and yet fallible and finite and that when we try to tell any story that denies this reality, we tell a story of hubris that lies about the human condition.

I think this is what has always troubled me about the characters of Ayn Rand’s fiction. All are strong and assertive and capable and their only downfall is a system that fails to realize their egoistic drive to succeed. There is no self-awareness of the tremendous capacity for not only good but also evil that runs through each of us.

One of the conclusions drawn in this presentation was the importance not only in writing but in our politics, our economics, our home life, to become tellers of good stories if it is a good society we would shape.

He suggested that the good stories are not ones of living happily ever after but rather ones of proximate good, the good that is possible for people who are “glorious ruins.” We enjoy good, but hardly perfect marriages. We achieve proximately and not ideally good “all or nothing” political solutions.

I think Percy and our speaker are on to something. The stories I’ve loved the most are honest and create characters I can believe if not always like. They are stories that make me reflect both on the darker angels of my nature, and aspire to something better without ever denying what I am.

I would be curious what others think about this. Have you come across books that you felt lied about the human condition? And do you think that the telling of good stories, the creating of good narratives, in the sense of proximate good, is important in shaping the good society?

Books I Wish I Had Read Sooner

April 9, 2015April 8, 2015 / rtrube54 / 8 Comments

Recently I wrote a post titled “Books I Read Too Soon“. Today I was wondering whether there were some books that I wish I had read sooner. So I perused through the books that I’ve reviewed over the past few years and came up with a list of some I wish I had come across or read earlier in life. It is not that I did not benefit from these books when I did read them. Rather, I just wish I had enjoyed the benefit of discovering their riches sooner. In some cases, this would just not have been possible because they were written in the last few years. What I would say is, if you agree with my reasoning about each book and you are younger than I am, don’t wait until your fifties or sixties to read them!

The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald. I even wrote in my review of the former of these two that I wondered why I hadn’t read this sooner. Both are stories that work on multiple levels that only get richer with each reading. Of The Princess and the Goblin, G.K. Chesterton said it “made a difference to my whole existence.”

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. I think both my wife and I wish this book had been written years sooner. Introverts often feel they should try to be extroverts, which it seems society prefers. Susan Cain’s book, without being whiny, suggests that introverts bring a unique gift to the world. Wish I’d read this one in high school!

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. This was a sci-fi book I passed up reading as a kid because I thought “Canticle” seemed too highbrow. Read it a few years ago for the first time and was struck with both the memory of living under a nuclear cloud in the sixties, and the fascinating project of this book of preserving learning in a post-nuclear holocaust world.

The Critical Journey, Stages in the Life of Faith, by Janet O Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich. I wish I had understood in my thirties that faith was a journey rather than a static reality. It took hitting the wall that Hagberg and Guelich talk about in this book during mid-life to wonder if there are greater depths to the life of faith than what I was taught as a young adult.

Daring Greatly by Brene’ Brown. This is a book I wish I had read as a young leader. Brene’ Brown talks about the strength to be found in vulnerability, not something most men do well, including me. Her explorations of the way we avoid vulnerability through perfectionism and through numbing and through thinking we cannot allow ourselves joy described the strategies I’ve too often used to “maintain control” and not risk.

Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf. I think we (and I include myself here) spend too much time dividing the world into “us” and “them” and I spent too many years thinking in these terms. Yet the real question is how do we embrace the “other” who really is different in important ways from us. Volf’s “drama of embrace” and the practice of “double vision” gave me new ways of thinking about how we love across our differences and have genuine and deep encounters with the “other”.

To Change the World by James Davison Hunter. I’ve used “world-changing” rhetoric in my work during most of my life but my ideas of what real culture change looked like were naive and simplistic. Hunter challenges both our superficial engagements with the culture and the naive hopes we often have put in politics to change the world and calls for the “long obedience” of “faithful presence” in society.

I think I could have profited by reading each of these books earlier in life. Nevertheless, I’m glad I read them when I did because each of these were works of worth that have served me well since. I was also struck when I perused my reviews of how many books I did not necessarily wish I had read sooner. They seemed fine for this time and this group of books was in the vast majority. I’m really not overly troubled by this. But if the books I’ve mentioned encourage someone twenty or thirty or more years younger than I to read them and that person profits from the reading–then that will be a good thing.

Are there books you wish you had read sooner?

How I Choose Books to Review

February 26, 2015February 29, 2016 / rtrube54 / 11 Comments

I ran into a question yesterday I hadn’t thought about before. Not one of those big, meaning of life or the universe type questions. Rather it was one related to this blog and the books I review. I was asked how I chose the books I review and came with an attachment of an e-book the person had written that it was hoped I would review.

Free books to a bibliophile are kind of like a Starbucks card for a coffee lover (hint-hint!). But no matter how quickly I read or how many books I read, the old axiom on one of my favorite t-shirts is becoming ever truer: So many books…so little time. So I thought it might not hurt to share, as best as I’ve figured it out, how I choose books to review:

1. First of all, I like to choose! Most of the books I read are ones I’ve chosen. Even those which are free review copies are ones I’ve chosen to request. I don’t tend to like the idea of reading books others think I “should” read, unless I would have chosen them anyway.

2. I choose books to read for the same reasons most readers do: they are by an author, or on a topic, or tell a story I think I would be interested in and think I will like. Friends recommendations help, particularly if I perceive our interests match up well or they’ve made good recommendations in the past.

3. Similarly, I want to review books I like. I respect the work a writer puts into researching and writing a book. It is a laborious process whether done well or badly by someone who aspires to this work. While I will give my opinions and sometimes critiques of works I read, I want, on balance to affirm the writer’s effort and help connect that effort to readers who will appreciate it.

4. Requesting and receiving review copies of books also means being strategic about reading choices because publishers and authors like reviews in a timely manner, ideally close to the publication date of the book. So when I have a queue of several of these books, I feel obligated to read those and not others.

5. On occasion, I will review the works of personal friends (real personal friends, not simply those who are virtual friends on social media). I will do this if I’m genuinely interested in their book and think I can give a review that will help them.

6. There are several things that tend to drive my choices of books: my interest in thoughtful or even scholarly works exploring the intersection of Christian faith, culture, and higher education, the arena in which I work; a love for science, contemporary issues, history, biographies of those in public life, science, and industry; and a love for well-written, thoughtful fiction, which can include literary fiction, science fiction, mysteries or even spy thrillers.

7. Here’s some suggestions of what I won’t choose: “inspirational” Christian fiction or non-fiction, motivational books, works that trade on “conspiracy theories”, and work that uses excessive violence and/or excessive and graphic descriptions of sexuality as a substitute for a good narrative. This is not a judgment on either the writers or readers of these works but simply what I’m not interested in.

I realize authors really do need others to talk about their books in this internet driven age of book publicity. I want to do that as someone who thinks reading can be life enriching and perspective-enlarging. But of all the books out there, I will probably, in a good year, get to about 120 of them, most which I’ve chosen because of personal interest. If you want to send me something, I really appreciate the thought but honestly won’t hold out hope that I will read it unless it’s one of those serendipitous moments where your work and my interests and perception of the book’s worth magically line up. I hope you won’t take it personally if I don’t. It is simply a case of “so many books…so little time.”

I’d be curious how other reviewers deal with this question?

Books and Brownies 2015

February 2, 2015August 26, 2025 / rtrube54 / 2 Comments

A cold winter night, brownies, and milk, and good friends sharing about books they’ve enjoyed. A simple idea but one that always yields not only new ideas of books to read but also new bonds with those friends. Last Friday, some graduate students from the Christian Graduate Student Alliance met to do just that. This year, I thought I would include (not verbatim) some notes I took about the books they shared.

Creation Regained by Albert M. Wolters. We often talk about things in terms of good or bad. Wolters suggests we consider what God’s created purpose for those things might be.

Playing God by Andy Crouch. This book applies Wolters suggestion to the idea of power, which can corrupt and be corrupted but actually reflects what it means for us to be in God’s image.

Modern Pheasant Hunting, 2nd Edition by Steve Grooms. The decline of the pheasant population necessitates more sophisticated hunting techniques. Recommended by a pheasant hunter as the one leisure book he’s read recently in graduate school!

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. The book explores in beautiful writing apartheid in South Africa through the story of two families caught up in tragedy and the efforts of a black pastor to pursue forgiveness and reconciliation.

Catcher in the Rye and Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. Catcher was the first novel in English read by the Japanese student who recommended it. He deeply identified with the title figure. He also particularly loved the short story “At the Dinghy” in Nine Stories.

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss. This Christian fiction from 1869 explores in diary form the basic longing to follow God more deeply while struggling with the tensions of human, sinful nature.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans. Each month focuses on a different quality of character that the Bible upholds for women. The woman who recommended it also appreciated Evans discussion of Proverbs 31 in its original Jewish context.

Extraordinary Chickens by Steven Green-Armytage. This is a coffee table book of photographs of the many varieties of chickens showing what an incredible bird (and the closest living relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex). A veterinary student interest in poultry veterinary work recommended this one.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This was a best-seller post-apocalyptic book that is far better than the movie in exploring the scenario of adolescents trained to kill or be killed in the hunger games.

The Academic Job Search Handbook by Julia Miller Vick and Jennifer S. Furlong. This book provides everything a grad student aspiring to jobs in academia needs to pursue the job search including timelines, samples of vitas in various disciplines, how to accept or decline an offer, and more.

The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian. This book was also recommended last year and the woman recommending it this year not only picked up the book as a result of last year’s recommendation by Skyped with a friend from Houston who read it with her.

I loved this last recommendation because it illustrates the joy of sharing books that have touched our lives–they may touch the lives of others as well. Personally, I realized that I’ve never read J.D. Salinger, nor particularly wanted to. My Japanese student friend intrigued me enough that I just may.

Perhaps the list and the stories might motivate you to try a “books and brownies” night some time soon! What books would you add to this list?

Links to earlier Books and Brownies Lists:

2014

2013