How to break in a new book

We are now just over one week away from the official launch day for A Physical Education! (Books always come out on Tuesday; did you know that? Also music albums always come out on Friday. I feel surprised everyone coordinates about this, personally.)

As promised, below is a video on how to break in any new hardcover book. I learned this back in college, from a printout that was taped to the front of a door in a high-traffic hallway in the library. I walked past it probably hundreds of times, but it was quick enough to absorb in one pass. And the very first time I saw it, I was affronted, as a reader, that no one had ever taught me how to do this, that even at the ripe old age of eighteen I was wrenching books open, cracking the spine like a dimwit chiropractor, causing pages to eventually come unstuck and fall out.

Breaking in a book like this will allow the book to sit open hands-free on a table for endless reading-while-eating pleasure, but also makes it easier to hold open when you are only holding it with one hand. Works for long books, short books, old books, new books, hardcovers, paperbacks—I just use a hardcover because they fight you more. Takes less than a minute, enables hours of leisurely reading pleasure.

Does everyone already know this? Are there already one billion viral videos about this? If so, I don’t know of them. Hopefully this does not bore you.

So don’t forget to pre-order A Physical Education—that’s right, I’m imploring you again—so you can savor the experience of properly massaging a book spine, giving it the gift of mobility and flexibility in our notoriously stiff and calcified times.

LAUNCH WEEK EVENTS

For the New Yorkers out there, I’m reliably told my Friday, May 9 event at The Strand with Roxane Gay is almost sold out. I would hate for you to be the chump who wished to go, but didn’t buy tickets in time! Don’t be that person. I will be bringing beautiful Sharpie colors to sign the books to whomever you want, and will sign anything—copies of LIFTOFF, shirts, hats, whatever you can physically get into the store, I’ll sign it. (Please, no horses, no matter how big or beautiful.)

For my LA folks, the launch-day event at Skylight Books Tuesday, May 6 is un-ticketed, but if you want a good seat/spot, best to get there early! I’m so pleased to announce I will be in conversation with Katie Heaney, who not only lifts but is formerly a writer for NYMag’s The Cut and a prolific author of memoir and YA, most recently The Year I Stopped Trying.

For Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Durham folks, the Wednesday, May 8 event at Flyleaf Books is also unticketed, but capped at 70 people, with priority given to those who have pre-ordered through Flyleaf (you can do that here). I will be in conversation with Alexandra DeSiato of Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses.

For SF/Berkeley/Bay Area folks, the Tuesday, May 13 event at Mrs Dalloway’s is ticketed but also free!; walk-ins allowed but only if there is room.

And did I mention that you should pre-order A Physica—*grand piano falls on me, kazoo plays*