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Books on the Nightstand
September 2007
At home, there are no books on my night stand although I still
have a reading lamp attached to my headboard. But this week, I’ve
been a guest at a private home and last week I was at a hotel
in New York City. As I was looking for the Manhattan phone book
in the hotel room, no small item to hide out of the way, I came
across the Holy Bible, ever present in every hotel room in the
country. I remembered the story of how and when that came to be.
In the late
1890’s, two traveling salesmen shared a hotel room and discussed
like interests. The conversation turned toward, “wouldn’t
it be nice, if …?” and during a chance meeting a decade
later, they formed “the Gideons,” an organization
that started out putting the Bible at the front desk of every
hotel. In 20 years, a million books were distributed to every
hotel room all free, and replaced when stolen or worn, also free
of charge. Additionally, 27% of hotel guests say they read the
Bible during their stay.
I’ve
never seen other books placed but I read recently that guests
at the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa have will find a book in
the drawer of the night stand but it is not the Gideon Bible;
rather, it’s a copy of “An Inconvenient Truth,”
the book about global warming by former Vice President Al Gore.
Perhaps a trend is beginning. If 27% of the traveling public reads
Senator Gore’s book, we may be on the way toward saving
the planet after all.
The weather
in New York City last week was glorious and, as always, there
were places to go and people to see. No time to read there but
this week is different. When I’m at home in Georgia, I usually
fall asleep in front of the television set, watching yet another
re-run of Law and Order. It’s the time of day I can allow
my own cares to dissipate while detectives in the big city of
murder and mayhem solve really big problems. Finally, my head
falls forward onto my chest and I know it’s time to give
up the ghost. As a guest, however, I stick to a more reasonable
routine and “turn in,” as they say, with a bit of
life still in me.
I look forward
to reading but what will it be? Do I scan their bookshelves looking
for the right something? Do I want to be carried away to distant
lands in days of yore? No, not tonight. Do I want romance? No.
Romance in today’s market is a trek with a single girl from
one one-night stand to another because it’s easier than
saying “No.” Does that really titillate the senses
of the young women buying these books? The “bodice rippers”
of yesteryear at least had the women saying “No” but
breathing yes until the final pages. That was more suspense than
romance. Do I want a book to make me laugh? No, I want to go to
sleep. Something thrilling? Something chilling? Something nostalgic
to actually take me back? Something to inspire me? Something spiritual?
Some light poetry?
Here in Warwick,
about 50 miles from New York City, I have Autumn in New York,
not in the city this time so I don’t have the need for places
to go and people to see. I have crisp air, sunshine over Greenwood
Lake, leaves turning to red and gold. Here I am a guest and since
my hosts’ names are Daley and O’Brien, it is not surprising
that I discover the nightstand has a number of books that fill
the bill for bedtime reading, all with an Irish flair.
I reach over for "Irish Wit and Wisdom." I don’t
start on page one, I thumb through for a one-liner: “Get
on your knees and thank God you’re still on your feet.”
You really have to laugh. When that was first uttered, did he
or she notice the twist of words? I don't think so. The Irish
think fast with a witty retort but that was too quick to be deliberately
clever.
Another book
on the nightstand is one of quotable quotes. Here I found one-liners
that were worth pondering. I’d read a line, then let the
book fall to my chest while I thought about it. For instance,
Thackeray is quoted as saying: “To love and win is the best
thing; to love and lose, the next best.” A similar sentiment
quoted through the ages to any young boy or girl coming to the
end of a romance is “Better to have loved and lost than
never to have loved at all.” Of course they look at you
as if you are absolutely crazy to think such a thing. They think
their lives are over – they prefer to sing the old song,
“I wish I had died in my cradle than ever grow up to love
you.”
Sometimes
the pondering goes on just long enough to lull you to sleep, book
and eyeglasses sliding down. While other times, a quote will bring
on a laugh as I laughed reading Dorothy Parker, the witty American
writer during the nineteen twenties, who wrote: “Oh, life
is a glorious cycle of song, A medley of extemporanea; And love
is a thing that can never go wrong; And I am Marie of Roumania.”
The best
book ever found resting on a nightstand was not in a room I stayed
in but was mentioned by Dick Cavett speaking to a guest on his
late night talk show about 20 years ago. He was visiting a friend
and in the room he occupied was a copy of “84 Charing Cross
Road” by Helene Hanff. I was so taken by his description
of this short book, a collection of letters between Ms. Hanff
and the proprietor of a book store (located at 84 Charing Cross
Road) in Great Britain during World War II that I went out and
bought the book for myself and for my children as well.
As for me, I think short reads like quotations, verses, travelogs
and snappy cartoon collections work best. The last thing I read
last night that I recall is an Irish definition: “Diplomacy
is the ability to tell a man to go to hell so that he will look
forward to the trip.” Not exactly a laugh out loud line,
but I know I fell asleep with an amused smile on my lips.
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