14 APRIL 2001, Page 55

Q. I am sometimes disgusted by the books I see

in other people's lavatories. For instance, do you agree with me that recipe books are entirely inappropriate? What are the correct books to have in a lavatory?

T.K, London W11 A. For obvious reasons, recipe books should never appear in a lavatory. Joke books are equally unacceptable since, all too often, they dominate the lavatories of people without a sense of humour. (On no account should you offer an old publication called Who Farted?.) Instead, concentrate on Geoffrey Madden's Notebooks, Palgrave's Golden Treasury, a dictionary of literary terms, or antiquarian medical books.

Mary Killen

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