Wednesday, August 29, 2007
What Books Are Published For
At last, it's all clear - this is what books are published for: to be left behind in hotel rooms. This top ten is, I suspect, an all too accurate snapshot of the state of British publishing - and reading. Though of course it raises the question of whether these books were read, savoured and left behind for others to share the pleasure, or abandoned in boredom or disgust. Personally I can't imagine anyone actually reading any of them, but maybe I'm being unduly harsh hem hem.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Very surprised the Gideon Bible doesn't feature. Amazing how many times I've found a copy lying around.
ReplyDeleteTrue Johntyh, very true - and that book about all the local attractions...
ReplyDeleteif the books were 'read, savoured and left behind for others to share the pleasure', maybe the people who left them behind haven't discovered the delights of Bookcrossing (http://www.bookcrossing.com/)
ReplyDeletePerhaps the books which sell a lot and are short-term successes are also the ones people discard without a second thought. The books which are long-term successes, and (apart from university courses) don't sell much in any one year, are the ones less likely to be discarded, and more likely to linger like the aftertaste of cat.
ReplyDeleteFrom a look at the list, it hardly sounds as if romance was in the air when most of those hotel rooms were booked.
ReplyDeleteJust as likely, these are the left-overs of bare rooms in anonymous hotels booked by those intending to end it all and who need something to while away the final twenty minutes before the overdoes kicks in. "Books to read while you're committing suicide" is nearer the mark. Maybe the hotels like to leave them around in the hope that the sight of the tome will drive the room's next occupant to ravage the minibar.