Do those books teach you how to adjust the top and bottom tensions? I never sew because I can never get the tensions right. :~/
That’s more your sewing machine operation then actually sewing pieces together, but The Complete Sewing Workshop book probably addresses it. They go over basic operations that are similar on most machines, loading the bobbin for example.
I’ve never adjusted the top tension on my machine. I don’t even think I would know how, but I did adjust the bottom tension because the factory setting seemed to be really loose (who knows, it could have loosened in shipping or something). I still consider myself a mega-novice, but my advice about adjusting the bottom tension is to go slowly and turn it very, very slightly then test it on scrap fabric. When I adjusted mine, I think I turned it around an eighth of an inch or less. The stitches should lie flat, look neat, and have no pull or slack.
It may sound silly, but check out You Tube. There are tutorials on everything and I would not be at all surprised if there were at least a dozen videos on adjusting your sewing machine tension.