I first saw this book when a friend wrote a rave review of it; I noted it but didn't take any action. Later I heard an interview with Jeff VanderMeer on the radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge, which intrigued me enough to get the book from the library. 
 I read this book over the course of one day, which I've not done in a long time. It was very pleasant to be able to immerse myself in a story like this. Aside from the fact that it took me five or six hours to read it, Annihilation felt like a short story to me. It's not overly complex, but it has enough twists and turns and hidden clues---many thanks to an unreliable narrator---that it kept pulling me along. 
 I also quite like the way that the physical setting is written. It's easy for me to feel the humidity and closeness of the landscape. Throughout the book is the question of what drives our actions. Do we have as much control of our actions as we think? What---or who---shares control of our actions if they aren't completely in our conscious control? 
 There are also questions of identity and perspective. Who are we and what makes us who we are? Are we the same person without our name? Do others see us in the same way we see ourselves? Do others see anything the same way we see it? And how can we ever bridge these differences in perspective to connect with other people? 
 I love fiction that gets me asking questions!