It happened to me too, it gets put into your inventory every time you finish reading it, so when you check the table again, its as if you put it back down on the table
wait, I think i figured out something! when you type s to the cat dude, he says "start. it is important to convert rooms" so i went to the room where you have to press star t, and i pressed it again, and it changed the room, so try that