I’ve been tearing up books, yes, you read that right. This weekend I spent a wonderful afternoon taking apart an old book and reconstructing it to make a journal. I know destroying books is not for everyone, it was hard for me at first too, but I’m ok with that now that I feel like I’m giving a poor old discarded book a new life.

Book restoration exists, of course but let’s face it, it’s costly, difficult and it’s just not going to happen for a lot of books. So in this way I get some comfort knowing the old books can still become a treasured part of our lives.

Ok, so let me tell you what I did. I worked on an old Reader’s Digest Condensed book. I took off the spine, gutted the book and was left with two very nice covers. The pages are actually in great shape and I didn’t think to include them in this first journal but going forward I think I’ll incorporate some.

I had a scrap of leather to use for the spine. This piece was not quite the right shape and I didn’t have time to fix it, plus it wasn’t pared so it feels bulky to me now. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of leather so my next book I’ll use cloth.

The book has four signatures of five pages which in total give you 80 pages front and back. I sewed this using a long-stitch but making a criss-cross pattern on the spine. I love long-stitch because it will allow a journal to lie flat, which for me is a big plus.

It took me a while to get the hang of the stitch because you don’t sew this one signature after the other. You sew them out of order and all the while trying to keep your book together.  At first I felt like I had to talk out loud to make sure I was going into the right holes to get the pattern but after a while it was almost like I had to stop counting and fall into a flow. Loved that moment.

So here is what it looks like – the spine and then a knob for the closure. I probably will rethink the knob and use a button instead, again so the book will lie flat. I also used some tissue tape where the leather meets the book boards to cover some mistakes. This journal has lots of little mistakes but that’s the fun part of the first journal – you can make mistakes and learn from them.

How did you sneak up on me? I must have lost track of time as I was lost in my books and there were some good ones last month. I have to say I’m happy with how my reading year is going so far, ok, I know it’s just begun but still. I read 5 good books which included books in translation, mysteries, fiction and best of all, no DNFs.

I’m not too happy that I still haven’t finished Doctor Glas which is such a slim book you’d think it would be a breeze but it’s the type of book I really want to dedicate more attention to because I feel like I could miss something important so I’m saving it for when I have a bit more time to delve into it.

Right now I’m also still reading The Girl On the Cliff which I have found a bit predictable but I don’t mind. This is like a one of those good comfort books you need when you are tired and just want to read something enjoyable.

But, I’ve just received an ARC from NetGalley of the latest Ruth Galloway mystery series and I’m so tempted to set aside everything and start it! There is just something I really enjoy about this series even if the main character sometimes gets on my nerves.

So that’s the reading life here at Casa Bookgirl. I promise I will tell you more about those books I’ve enjoyed. What about you, did you read a great book last month? Tell me about it.