Abandoned books and other stuff

Ten years ago I remember seeing a list of arguably the most unpopular novels of the time, on the basis that they were the titles most commonly abandoned in hotel rooms, the data being compiled by the budget chain Travelodge. The publishing world was somewhat different in 2012 to the present day and I thought it might be instructive to compare the results then to the present day results, or as near to the present day as I could find, and see which current novels have also so displeased their purchasers that they simply discarded them, not even being prepared to carry them out to their cars.

It may not have come as a particular surprise to anyone to learn that the book which came top in 2012, with around 7,000 copies being abandoned, was the erotic bestseller by E L James, Fifty Shades of Grey, which accounted for almost one in every three books that had been dumped, Travelodge stating that in all a total of 21,786 books had been recovered from its 36,500 hotel rooms during 2011. It will probably also not be entirely surprising that the other two books in the trilogy – Fifty Shades Freed and Fifty Shades Darker – also made the ‘Books Left Behind’ worst-seller list at numbers 4 and 7 respectively. I haven’t read any of these three novels, and so I’m not qualified to comment on their literary worth, but I do think it’s significant that most people I’ve spoken to who have read them, or have tried to read them, have dismissed them as boring rubbish.

But I am familiar with the work of the late Steig Larsson, whose three novels also featured prominently in this list, and again their inclusion does not come as any kind of a surprise to me, because I thought the books were really very average indeed. In fact, I couldn’t even be bothered to finish the last one in the series. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins also proved to be unpopular, as did her other two books. But as well as this collection of entirely forgettable novels, there were also some surprises, including The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry and John le Carre’s classic Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

The full and unexpurgated list 2012 was as follows:

1. Fifty Shades of Grey    E.L. James
2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
3. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest Stieg Larsson
4. Fifty Shades Freed    E.L. James
5. The Hunger Games    Suzanne Collins
6. The Girl Who Played With Fire Stieg Larsson
7. Fifty Shades Darker    E.L. James
8. Catching Fire Suzanne Collins
9. Mockingjay    Suzanne Collins
10. The Help    Kathryn Stockett
11. One Day    David Nicholls
12. A Tiny Bit Marvellous Dawn French
13. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography Steve Jobs
14. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid    Jeff Kinney
15. The Brightest Star In The Sky Marian Keyes
16. The Fry Chronicles    Stephen Fry
17. Room    Emma Donoghue
18. StrengthsFinder 2.0 Tom Rath
19. The Confession    John Grisham
20. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy John Le Carre

There are of course a number of conclusions one can draw from this data. It could be argued that the abandoned books are an accurate reflection of the changing reading habits of the British public, and a spokeswoman for Travelodge confirmed that they had noted a change in the types of books found. Previously, the majority of dumped books were either celebrity biographies or chick lit, both of which categories had clearly failed to live up to the low expectations of their purchasers. So, in 2007 the most abandoned book was The Blair Years by Alastair Campbell, which reportedly failed to satisfy on any number of levels, while the following year it was Piers Morgan’s equally unimpressive Don’t You Know Who I Am? In 2009, the book most commonly tossed aside by Travelodge customers was Katie Price’s autobiography Pushed to the Limit, which presumably she paid somebody to write for her, just like all her other books: at least E L James actually wrote what she put her name to.

Perhaps inevitably, ‘unusual’ reading material was discovered at several hotels in the chain, including a bag of Kama Sutra books found in a room previously occupied by an elderly couple in Scarborough, and in Peterborough a company CEO left behind a suitcase filled with comics. And I really don’t quite know what to make of that!

In contrast, here is the most recent list, again from Travelodge, for 2018:

1. The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
2. The Couple Next Door Sharri Lapena
3. Bad Dad David Walliams
4. Origin Dan Brown
5. The Secret Rhonda Bryne
6. The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins
7. Paul O’Grady’s Country Life Paul O’Grady
8. Sharp Objects Gillian Flynn
9. Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway Jeff Kinney
10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone J.K. Rowling
11. Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book Johanna Basford
12. It Stephen King
13. The World’s Worst Children David Walliams
14. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them J.K. Rowling
15. Big Little Lies Liana Moriarty
16. All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class Tim Shipman
17. Harry Potter Colouring Book Warner Bros.
18. Thirteen Reasons Why Jay Asher
19. The Art of the Deal Donald Trump
20. Princess Beauty and the Beast Disney

But it wasn’t just books that guests abandoned in Travelodge hotels. Among the more unusual items found discarded during 2019 to 2021 were:

• A 3-foot tall inflatable unicorn
• Airline tickets to Dubai
• Two first class airline tickets to the Maldives
• A suit of armour
• A child’s Range Rover
• A miniature model railway set
• A morning suit
• A box of Rod Stewart CDs
• A vintage violin
• A brand new Rolex watch
• A Cartier engagement ring
• A pet poodle called Pudding
• A wedding bouquet
• A bonsai tree
• A keyboard
• A set of company tax returns
• Casino chips valued at £3000
• A money tree to which £10,000 worth of £50 notes had been attached
• A wigwam
• A handcrafted dolls house
• A set of Hermes tarot cards
• A stamp collection

and

• A 6 foot heart made out of red roses
• A R2-D2 robot

both of which would have been difficult to miss when the guests made a final inspection of their room before leaving.