That first shot of the book, looks fine. Reason why it is soft at the top where the writing is, is i'm guessing because you used auto focus points as well? I assume that it grabbed the bottom of the book (It will search for contrast closest to the focus point).
Pick a subject that is a constant (I.E. Always there). Take a photo, post it up and tell us what you dont like about it. We will tell you what we would of done, composition wise, focus wise and distance to subject etc.. So many variables as you can see.
I can guarantee now that after looking at the photos you have posted, is that you need to choose CENTER POINT focus (also the strongest and most accurate focus point) and focus correctly.
Take some more pics!