Right now, one chapter in to Earth Abides, you have NO IDEA of the journey you are about to embark upon. I ... no. I can't say that. Well, there's this... nope. Can't say that either. Just read it. I'm about to read it again, just to take the journey again. I expect you will too, so putting off reading it just means you are gonna delay re-reading it even further! :-)
Potential Spoiler I'm only three chapters in but I'm about 80% certain Princess is gonna see an early, untimely demise. Dogs are emotional anchors for men. They give us something to nurture, something to encourage us to live beyond ourselves, they give us something to admire and enjoy and allow us to be bigger than we are. Authors know this and therefore love killing off dogs. Authors are dicks.