I’ve not had time to mention it before, but I see that Blake Morrison (a writer and poet who spent more than 15 years working as a literary editor) reviewed Paul Theroux’s account of America’s northern neighbour, True North, in The Guardian last weekend. Theroux’s approach, which he himself describes as “idly motoring, looking and listening”, is “a hit-and-miss method (not everyone is insightful),” says Morrison, “but he gathers stories wherever he goes…”

Morrison concludes: “At 85, and despite the thousands of miles he drives from east to west, the author’s energy seems undimmed. Downbeat at the start, he’s rejuvenated by the end, ready for another road trip, eager to see the Yukon, Hudson Bay, Labrador. If nothing else, he’ll get back to Yamaska, the village of his ancestors.”