If I were any good at modding the Fallout engine, I'd mod it so you don't die when you become glowing, you become a mutant and play out the rest of the game like that....

That's a great idea! If it worked for Harold, why can't it work for you?
So maybe your Charisma drops to zero. Maybe some of the other stats too. Maybe you lose hit points at random moments as bits of you fall off. Or maybe you start to glow like a glowing ghoul. Then it would be easier to see in the dark.

When I was in the Glow I did read all the books and my radiation resistence did drop because of the long time I spent doing so. But apparently the radiation resistence doesn't drop while you are reading and then leaves you unprotected for several hours, but actually only drops when you finish reading. Therefore I didn't have to do more than take another Rad-X immediately after I read the big book of science and I was good to go without any more radiation than before :)

I once played chess with Zax so many times (just trying to win a game) that I died of radiation.