This is inevitable, so do not despair if you find a misfit or two at your party. Make the best of it with all the humor at your command.

the guest in retreat
Occasionally you find a guest who picks up a magazine and reads it right through a party. This fortunately doesn't happen often, but I have seen it occur. It's rather shocking to any well-mannered person and it can be embarrassing and annoying. The guest gives the impres­sion that this is the most boring party he has ever gone to, and reading is the only escape. Sometimes it's inadequacy which makes a guest do this. He cannot contribute to the conversation and feels out of place, so he retreats. If you care enough about him, you will, as good hosts, try to draw him into conversation on a subject which interests him. And even if you don't care about him, if he's embarrassing the other guests you must stop his public retreat from sociability and make him a participant whether he likes it or not. Sometimes he reads because he is shy and doesn't know how to enter into the spirit of the party. He is like a small child, who tries to call attention to himself so that somebody will give him a helping hand. Possibly nothing would please him more than to lay down this reading matter, so that instead of lack of coopera­tion you will meet with gratitude when you give him the attention he craves. Of course he may really be bored to death, and if that's why he chooses to be rude, let him read and don't invite him again. He is a bad guest, and our next chapter has something to say about how not to be one of those.

good hosts remember
One of the most graceful and thoughtful qualities in a host is a memory for the tastes and interests of people who've been entertained in his home. If your memory is sieve-like, have a book for keeping records of such details. After a dinner party or a week end, write down what you served and how it was received. If a particular guest was espe­cially enthusiastic about a certain dish, you will like serving it to him again if the occasion is not too soon after. Another reason for keeping records of what you serve at parties is not to duplicate a meal you've previously served to the same people. Of course, if you're a novice party-giver and cook and have, so far, only built up one party menu which you're sure you can serve to perfection, you may have to repeat. But in time you will work up a variety of dishes which you can do well enough to serve to guests.