As thousands of book obsessives descend upon the Hay Festival to indulge their passion for all things bookish, our friends at Vintage Books have today tendered advice on Twitter to those worried about the age old, time versus books to be read, conundrum.

Having fairly recently raised my bat to the pavilion to acknowledge the applause for my half century, and having a singular inability to keep my book buying within civilised norms, this is a subject that has been much on my mind of late. I am sure I am not alone. We must therefore doff the titfer to Vintage for advising that the secret of life is not 42, but garlic. Demand for the same in all relevant outlets in and around Hay is likely to assume Gold Rush proportions in the days ahead. You have been warned. Clove up booklovers.