“Hotel Guest Books”

When you like reading, it goes beyond regular books. You can find pleasure in reading restaurant menus, newspapers, magazines, leaflets and hotel guest books. Most of the hotels place some kind of guest book in their rooms that tell you about the hotel, contact numbers, dining menu, places around to see and similar kind of information. I have this compulsive need to read through the hotel book every time I check-in into a new hotel room. So why not write about my experience of reading these books that I read so indulgently.

The amount of information varies by the standard of the hotel. In a smaller hotel, you will probably find few leaflets and in a high class hotel you will find leather-bound heavy book that probably takes hours to go through. There is some information that is present in all the books like contact information, emergency exit plans but some enterprising hotels provide much more information about the history of the hotel, city and tourist places around the hotel.

What I find very annoying is when pages are missing from the book or when previous guests have written or damaged the book. If the hotel wants to keep the book they need to make sure it is in good condition while making the room ready for new guests. I am not impressed if it is leather bound or not. What I am looking for is the information that I need when I am new to the hotel as well as city. It is a digest that will tell me what facilities will I use and which places will I visit in the city. And if it is made in a small booklet that I can take it back with me, great. It will also act as memorabilia for me.

I don’t know if I am amongst very few who still like to read the hotel book or if there are many more out there who like to read such hotel books.

Same Book, Different Effect

I am going to write the tenth post on this blog, so I thought of writing a general stuff instead of a particular book. Can a same book create a completely different effect on its reader at different time? I believe yes. In fact it has happened to me multiple times. There have been times when I have picked up a book based on recommendation from a friend, but I could not read it. Whenever, I started to read, I found it boring, un-interesting and in most of the times sleepy. But then I will pick the same book after few months or years and I end up reading it with lot of interest and was unable to put it down. What changed between these times? The book was same and the reader was also same.

What changed was probably the mood of the reader or the environment or the ability of reader to pick up the vibes from that book. I have felt that each and every book has its own life, character, smell and beauty. It is up to the reader to be able to appreciate it. No writer writes a bad book. Every writer gives the best to the book and want it to be loved by its readers. But sometimes readers do not appreciate the beauty in the first date. Sometimes a book is very open and you get to start understanding it from first page. At other times, the book is shy and conservative. You really need to go through first few pages with patience to understand her and appreciate her. Sometimes you may not like the dressing of language that writer has given to the beautiful story. At other times, you may find that to be perfect language.

Environment also plays an important role here. If you are tired after a hard day’s work, you may not appreciate a book with lot of analysis and data. You may want a simple, feel-good story. If you are refreshed after  a weekend’s rest, you would want to read something which is more complex and involved. Then there are books which are for all seasons. You are not feeling sleepy, you can pick it up and you will start drooping your eyelids. Or if you are feeling sleepy but do not want to sleep, it will work the same. There are books where you want to reach the end but probably you will never pick them again. But there are books where end is not important, you enjoy the journey and will probably take up that journey again and again.

I am sure if you read this, you will also remember about the books that have had this effect on you. Please do share your similar experiences about you reading a particular book.