Hotel Babylon

Hotel Babylon is an entertaining book – it takes you through a fictional day in a fictional hotel, but is a vehicle for real stories and anecdotes about life working in a luxury London hotel. It feels like a snack rather than a full meal – the type is large, and the margins wide – but it’s written in a punchy, cynical style that keeps the pace going. In its darkness, it reminded me slightly of the Mike Leigh film Croupier. Not as disgusting as Kitchen Confidential, and unlikely to be as controversial, but a good read.