"What pays for all this?" he asked. "Grief in the face of inevitable death," said Crake. "The wish to stop time. The human condition." Not the most optimistic outlook, but that remains one of my all-time favorite lines from one of my favorite novels, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. This book is vintage Atwood – part dystopia, part absurdly funny, part tragic, and filled throughout with a haunting sense of relevance. This is the story of life gone wrong in a near future world in which genetic engineering is applied to everything from the food to transgenic pets (ask for a pigoon at PetSmart sometime). Driving the plot is an exciting adventure that carries the reader through to the climax and leaves you wondering about the fate of the main character, Snowman. I’ve read the book twice already and am on the (long) waiting list for Atwood’s newest novel, “The Year of the Flood” in which it looks like Snowman may make an appearance (if he ever survived). Forget “Flash Forward” and “V” on the television…sit at Snowman’s feet and hear an amazing tale. If you're someone who would like to stop time you can do so for 374 pages with this outstanding novel.