Bookstores may not be considered an ‘essential’ need in these times, but reading can be a precious form of comfort and escape in these difficult times. Stay in with a good book and catch up with well-loved bestsellers, intriguing thrillers, heady romance novels, or the best of SingLit. Support our local bookstores too – these ones provide delivery and make your days indoors much more enriching.

1. ZALL Bookstore

ZALL Bookstore at Wheelock Place is the best new place in town to stock up on Chinese literary works, stocking more than 30,000 titles across literature, humanities, history and philosophy. A newly launched online bookstore now means that you can get your books delivered straight to you. The selection is currently limited to children’s books, but keep your eyes peeled for even more content to be made available online.

Championing emerging and exciting writers from diverse backgrounds, Ethos Books is an independent local publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Catch up on your local literature with the catalogue here – and get it delivered to your home. You can even purchase digital books (for selected titles) if you’re a Kindle user.

3. Kinokuniya

With so many titles across so many genres and languages, one of the best things about shopping at Kinokuniya is the computerised book search stations in the store. If you missed spending hours at this huge bookstore, you can still browse the collection – online. Shop the extensive collection of graphic novels, magazines, guides, fiction and non-fiction titles and get it delivered swiftly to your home.

Though the physical store is temporarily closed, The Moon is still active online. Catch up on book recommendations via its stories on Instagram and head to the e-store to shop online. Stumped and need a recommendation? Let the book curator choose for you! The Moon Mystery option on the online store links you up with someone who will go through the catalogue to pick something just for you.

It’s business as usual for BooksActually on its online store. The team has been diligently keeping up with orders so you can get your books delivered to your doorstep promptly. Keep updated with new releases of the week or catch up on essential local literature during this time.

Photograph: Time Out SingaporeHuggs-Epigram Coffee Bookshop

While the light-filled space on Maxwell Road is closed during this period, you can shop the collection of Epigram Books online. Singapore’s largest independent publisher stocks titles like The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew, Ministry Of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe and State Of Emergency by Jeremy Tiang. In fact, 90 percent of the books in the store are by local authors so it’s time to keep up with some local lit

Basheer Graphic Books is no stranger to the artsy types in Bras Basah. A regular haunt for creative designers and illustrators, the bookstore in Bras Basah Complex stocks the best and latest in disciplines that range from graphics and architecture to fashion and animation. You can still shop the collection of books on the online store. On top of that, if you don’t see the book or magazine you want, just drop an email and the team will work their magic.

Books not really your thing but you love poring over magazines for hours? Order your favourite magazines like Monocle, The New Yorker, Vogue, National Geographic and Kinfolk from Allscript. There is free shipping for all magazines so load up that (online) shopping basket.

9. Thryft

Thryft was started by students from the National University of Singapore and is a second-hand online bookstore where you can trade in old books for credits to purchase other books on its marketplace. There is a wide range of books in the store and you can find textbooks, local literature, Murakami and also graphic novels. Prices are cheaper because the books are used so don’t expect them to be in pristine condition.

10. OpenTrolley

OpenTrolley is a Singapore-based online bookstore with over 15 million titles stocked. Shop all kinds of books from bestselling thrillers to hardcover design books. The store even has tarot cards if you’re keen on picking up something new these days.