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I bet books are saving your bacon right now, well how about tuning in to hear how you can support La Biblioteka - Sheffield's much-loved independent, award-winning bookshop. We're talking to the owner Alex Maxwell (with a few helpful contributions from his very small son Elio), all about the impact of C19 on his day-to-day life as a bookseller & his hot tips for Quarantine Reads. Follow him on Twitter @LaBiblioteka A note from Alex: For some escapism during these insular items there’s something comforting in looking at the past.  Two of the best recent releases are firmly in the historical fiction camp: The Mirror and The Light, Hilary Mantel’s spectacular final book in the Wolf Hall trilogy chronicles the (fictional) lives around Cromwell’s rise  s sure to clean up most book awards this year, and has the benefit of lasting through another week or two of lockdown at nearly 900 pages.  If you’ve already finished it, Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell is inspired by the son of a famous Stratford playwright, and is as immersive as it is intimate.  Now is a perfect time to tackle those chunky classics you’ve always passed over because you ‘don’t have the time’! Whether that’s Middlemarch or Anna Karenina, or, if not too close to the bone,  perhaps revisiting One Hundred Years of Solitude or Camus’ The Plague could act as a bit of catharsis. This is a perfect time to lean in to domesticity, and either Tin Can Magic or Jack Monroe's Tin Can Cook make excellent arguments for digging amongst what's left at the supermarket shelves or at the back of your cupboard to fashion some tasty meals. Do Preserve by Anja Dunk goes from basic principles of pickles, jams & cordials to stunning recipes from Green Tomato Chutney to Strawberry Gin Fizz, so that we'll never be caught short again, no matter what disaster befalls us next. That is unless you have small children, in which case, by now you will be needing fresh activity ideas. The Nature of Play is full of seasonal activities, that for now, will help them rediscover the garden, and This Book Thinks Your An Inventor (and the rest of the series) should ignite their curiosity and imagination. For the younger siblings, DOT magazine is packed with playful activities, learning games & engaging stories Books can be ordered via labiblioteka.co or via our social media channels @LaBiblioteka