I've had no problem with Book of Hours until today, when I tried to read a 12 book at a desk. It won't read it, it just crafts a Prentice-level item. Any book 10 and up has the same effect, I've tried different books of different principals and amounts at four different desks. I tried reading without a memory and with or without a tool. 8s read as normal, 10s and 12s insist I'm trying to craft instead. I thought I'd read 10-books before without a problem, but I suppose I could be wrong. How do I read 10 and up books at a desk?

Thank you.

if you want to re-read a book, that Mystery you have already solved, you just need to put the book and an element of the Soul in the Desk. no Skill, no Memory, no Tool / Ink.

Which is pretty bad design.

Basically, you have to 'inspect' a book and add enough of the right aspect to meet the mystery.
It's possible they disabled desks as a way to decipher books in one of the recent patches