At what seems to finally be the end of a long, hard winter my thoughts turn to settling into deeply involving books where landscape is the main character, books such as The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.

Like many people, this was the first book by her that I came across and it really is fantastic (as is the film). It’s about such an interesting community living on the edge of a continent, where decisions are driven by weather, where winter is an annual trial of clinging on until the late coming of spring, and where everyone knows everyone else’s business. The story is gripping and the characters are vividly drawn. It is easy to see why this won the Pulitzer.

It has really made me want to go to Newfoundland, and every time I fly over it on my way to a US city I now look down as the flight map shows we’re passing over the Atlantic coast and think about the life that’s going on below.

I enjoyed The Shipping News so much I then went on to read That Old Ace in the Hole and Close Range. That Old Ace In the Hole has the same depth of characterisation, but it’s a community I found less immediately engaging. Close Range is a great book of short stories that includes Brokeback Mountain, also a film worth watching.

If you want to feel smug about the onset of spring then read The Shipping News and enjoy the fact you’re not shivering as you do so.