It's an odd thing that what draws one to academia - a love of reading - often turns into, as one continues to study, a big pile of unread books because we have to tackle heavier tomes and topics. When I finished my Masters I had about 60+ books lined up and couldn't seem to read any of them, so began to read graphic novels - which was a sheer pleasure and perhaps a different blog. And then I started my PhD and also started teaching and suddenly there were more piles of books that HAD to be read if i was going to say on top of my classes, and the extra books continued to accrue. So there were about 120 of them waiting for me when I was done and I remember picking the first one up and being unable to get into it at all - I think it was Jonathan Franzen's Purity, and he's one of my favourite writers. Several months later I read a novel and then by the end of it realized it was pretty much porn, as avant-garde as it presented itself to be. Somewhere in there I got confused about life and so I stopped to read all the original Frank Herbert Dune books, but these are my go-to books for when I wonder what I'm doing or where it's all going or whatever. To give you a sense of it, I think I've read the first Dune book thirteen times, and the first three perhaps 8 or 9 and I've read all the Frank Herbert ones a few times and the ones by his heirs once. And when they were done, I was done. They are not really books, they're more like coming home. I tried more of my favourite writers but kept returning to comic books.
This holiday season i picked up the first of S. M. Stirling's Emberverse books, which I'd also read before, Dies the Fire. Somewhere I read in an interview with him that there was a bet between authors - that they couldn't successfully freshen up an old, old, old idea - the end of the world because somehow (beings from another planet? some kind of disaster? tribulations from God?) everything powered simply stops. Engines die, guns won't fire, and there is no electricity. Most of the population dies, often at the mercy of "eaters" (Cannibals who realize this is their best chance as humans are so catchable) or they just don't know how to survive or are caught somewhere they don't know. Small pockets of humans gather together, often under one powerful ruler or force. Early on the main groups are the pagans and Catholics but later they are joined by other groups under the leadership of different charismatic figures.... the characters are interesting but the thing that compels me is how, as technology stops intruding, the gods and spiritual forces, both evil and good, begin to manifest... So I seem to be on book 11 now, and I think there are 15 and then there are half a dozen related books.
I find myself getting attached to the characters and while Stirling is no George R.R. Martin, killing off whole families for your bemusement, he doesn't hesitate when their time is done. Because, y'know, the gods decree it....