#3 The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

The Year of the Flood is a sequel to Atwood's Oryx & Crake. It is a bit different, however, than many sequels in that you can read it without having read the first book. I did read Oryx & Crake several years ago, so perhaps I would have had a different experience had I reread it before this one.
Like many of Atwood's other books it took me a while to finish it. It is not that her books are difficult to read, they are not filled with words that require a dictionary be nearby. It is just that her subject matter has the tendency to be so heavy and delivered in such a way that I have to read it in smaller increments. It took me two weeks to read and it was not a huge book. It is as though she wants you to feel every moment fully. She does not resort to over-the-top descriptors of sex or violence and still I find that I feel it more deeply than if she went into detail about what has happened.
The Year of the Flood, like Oryx & Crake, is set in a dystopian future. One in which most of the human race has been eliminated by "the waterless flood", a plague that kills it's victims quickly and painfully. The characters that we learn about are women, primarily. The p.o.v. stories come from a female perspective. I think that this is where Atwood is at her best. In Oryx & Crake she takes a turn at a male narrator and falls short. I find her at her most authentic when writing about women.
It is hard for me to say that I recommend her books. I think that it really depends on the sort of book that you enjoy reading. If you enjoy Atwood's other books I would recommend this one without a second thought.