"In the alternate reality of this novel... humanity hibernates four months out of every year, like bears, gorging on calories in preparation for the long, severe winter."

"Those who have the means to afford a drug called Morphenox can ensure that their slumber is dreamless and peaceful. Why would they want to do this? Because dreams, it is believed, are wasteful, an unnecessary expenditure of calories during a precarious and vulnerable time, putting dreamers at risk of using up all of their stored fats. Worst-case scenario: The dreamer becomes Dead in Sleep. Thus the need for the requisite Governmental Agency to oversee hibernation. The Winter Consuls are those brave and foolhardy individuals tasked with ensuring the safety and well-being of the other 99 percent of humanity."

From "A Brilliantly Funny and Slightly Bonkers New Novel From Jasper Fforde" — a NYT review of "Early Riser."

I'm casting around for the next book to read. I finished "Bonfire of the Vanities" — and have a few more quotes from it I want to share — which I decided to read, showing my reasoning here.