Now that my work has dwindled away to pathetically meager, there’s more time to read for pleasure, and I’ve begun bingeing on long-running series of books, which is providing some unexpected delights.
For example, I own and have read just about every book Terry Pratchett ever wrote, but it’s been quite a few years since I last read any of them. So I’ve started rereading the entire Discworld series, in order of publication, and it’s almost as if I were encountering PTerry’s marvelous alternative reality for the first time! Oh, sure, I recall broad themes and the essence of many characters, but all in all it’s fresh and new in the detail of each book. What an unexpected joy!
When that’s done, assuming I continue to have more pleasure reading time, there are so many other series to binge on: All of Steven Brust’s Dragaera books. Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. Poul Anderson’s traders and Flandry story lines, let alone all the other books of his I have. Julian May’s Many-Colored Land, the Assassin/Ship/Fool trilogy of trilogies. Larry Niven’s Ringworld books. All of Heinlein’s so-called juveniles. And then there’s…
Well. I suspect you get the picture. Why, yes. Yes, I do prefer to escape to other worlds when I read for fun.
So, what book series are you bingeing on?
Shakespeare’s plays. Reading each one through, then reading up on it online, then reading it a 2d time.
It is taking just under a week per play. So far, I’m nearly 8 plays and 200pp into 37 plays/1150pp. So I’m set for a while… 
I’m on book two of Destiny’s Crucible by Olan Thorensen. New author to me, and I’m hooked.
Short summary (theirs, not mine):
*Joe Colsco boarded a flight from San Francisco to Chicago to attend a national chemistry meeting. He would never set foot on Earth again.
On planet Anyar, Joe is found unconscious on a beach of a large island inhabited by humans where the level of technology is similar to Earth circa 1700. He awakes amidst strangers speaking an unintelligible language and struggles to accept losing his previous life and finding a place in a society with different customs, needing a way to support himself, and not knowing a single soul. His worry about finding a place is assuaged when he finds ways to apply his knowledge of chemistry—as long as he is circumspect in introducing new knowledge not too far in advance of the planet’s technology and being labelled a demon. *
Also just finished the second book of the Dimension Space series. Much, much better than I expected, and I’m excited about starting the 3rd.
'Nuther short summary for anyone interested:
The Martian meets Gravity when a mysterious wave of light erupts from the supercollider and wipes humanity from the planet, leaving only two people in its wake—one on the surface and the other stranded on the ISS, neither aware of the other. After months of desperate isolation, Earth’s last man discovers he’s not the only one after all. The last woman is stranded alone aboard the International Space Station and barely alive—so begins a race against time.
Being a lover of scifi, I’m excited to have new series’ to read. Both are far better than I expected.
Way cool, pullin – I’ll have to write down those authors and check them out.
Dinsdale, you amaze me – I could never muster so much intellectual firepower to do what you’re doing.
I should just accept a compliment, but it largely just requires stick-to-itiveness. I’m a lawyer, so I’m pretty experienced at just reading things closely. And I’ve always been the kinda person who likes setting goals and tracking my progress towards them.
There are tons of references and vocab that just go past me, and I’m not trying to grok every nuance. The biggest disappointment is how much of the humor is opaque. There is a lot of very simple punning and such, but then there will be these lengthy exchanges in which you know witticisms are being flung back and forth, but they really don’t resonate 4 centuries on.
But it is surprising how readily the stories themselves just lay themselves out. There really is not all that much going on in terms of basic plot - at least in the 7 I’ve read so far. But then there are any number of subplots and subtleties which would require a more in depth study. A couple have been really - um - surprising and disappointing in terms of how little actually happens. I’m thinking Love’s Labour Lost and 2 Gentlemen.
I think there will be a significant difference between his more popular works and more minor ones. For example, so far, Midsummer’s Night and Much Ado have been my 2 fave. Measure for Measure is a ridiculous plot, and Merry Wives is just silly.
Each play is only 20-30 pages long (double columned, small print.) So the first time thru is a bit of work. Then when I go on-line, I generally find, “Yup - that’s what I THOUGHT happened.” And the second read thru is much quicker, easier, and enjoyable.