'Are you really hospitable, or is the way you allow acquaintances to come into the house a sign of indifference? The Reader is looking for a comfortable place to sit and read without invading those spaces clearly reserved for you; he is forming the idea that a guest can be very comfortable in your house provided he can adjust to your rules.'

which made me think of the russian hotel that used to be here, the difference between paid hospitality and something between friends....

continues:

"What else? The potted plants don't seem to have been watered for several days, but perhaps you deliberately chose the kind that don't require much attention. For the rest, in these rooms there is no trace of dogs or cats or birds; you are a woman who tends not to increase responsibilities, and this can be a sign of egoism or of concentration on other, less extrinsic, concerns, as also a sign that you do not need symbolic substitutes for the natural drives that lead you to be concerned with others, to take part in their stories, in life, in books...

Let's have a look at the books. The first thing noticed, at least on looking at those you have most prominent, is that the function of books for you is immediate reading; they are not instruments of study or reference or components of a library arranged according to some order. Perhaps on occasion you have tried to give a semblance of order to your shelves, but every attempt at classification was rapidly foiled by heterogeneous acquisitions."

Italo Calvino