Well, not in real life: I’ve arrived in the New England state on my reading journey of the United States. I finished reading Louisiana, and now I get to move on to Maine — in winter!

We lived in Maine one winter and I loved it: snow piled to the eaves, icicles dripping nearly to the ground. I am eager to disappear into a wintry novel set there. I adore reading bitter cold books in winter (try Winter’s Bone or The Shipping News if you’re into that, too).

I’ve scoured Goodreads looking for books set in Maine and written by Maine authors, and I will definitely read Olive Kitteridge again. That book is phenomenal, and it gets better with every read.

He rode with the window partly open because he loved the smell of the pines and the heavy salt air, and in the winter he loved the smell of the cold.

— Olive…