Hotel Stories: Legendary Hideaways of the World (2008)

HOTEL STORIES: LEGENDARY HIDEAWAYS OF THE WORLD Francisca Matteoli (Assouline, $34.95) This isn't a book -- it's the biggest brochure you've ever...actually, spare yourself the reading part. Matteoli has selected some fancy-pants hotels, splashed their glossy pictures across the pages, and attached ''stories'' to them. Notting Hill was filmed at The Ritz! Marilyn Monroe stayed at The Beverly Hills Hotel! The writing is so hypey -- ''Some people imagine that luxury hotels are all the same. That's before they've set foot in The Ritz...'' -- it makes Teen seem like investigative journalism.