Reasonable Books, Lafayette

This cozy bookstore, which opened this fall, despite the pandemic, carries new titles, as well as roughly 20 percent used books. Betty Winnacker, who owns Reasonable Books with her husband, Rudy, says there are so many new and recently released books out that it’s hard to choose favorites, but here are her recommendations for a cozy winter read.

“The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz” by Erik Larson: Larson takes readers back to the London of the 1940s, when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill struggled to hold the nation together under the German Blitz. The book’s themes resonate with the United States’ current circumstances, struggling under political divisions and a deadly pandemic. Reviewers found it went far beyond a retelling of history because of the focus on other characters and Larson’s cinematic writing.