Reuters is reporting that in the face of a global financial crisis, people are looking to books for answers — including cookbooks and thrillers.

[Borders vice president for adult trade books Kathryn] Popoff said sales of fiction have been strong in the past month, with a trend toward thrillers. “We’re really looking at that as the place that people are escaping to,” she said.

“There’s also been some talk in the industry about how more people will be eating at home now to save money,” said Amazon spokeswoman Tammy Hovey. “There has been some increased interest in upcoming big fall new releases from (Food Network’s) Ina Garten and Martha Stewart, whose new books are about getting back to basics.”

Predictably, market trends have also shown an increase in sales of personal finance books, biographies of key players in business, and histories of past financial crises.