I would appreciate mention of books similar to Silverman & Tate. Amongst features I find most appealing are:
-- it shows things I have studied (even marginally) in action, applied fairly extensively (around 250 pages) to one topic. Group theory, Galois theory, representation theory, cyclotomic fields, linear algebra. I find this very exciting and motivating to leave the realm of end-of-chapter problems and see applications of these topics.
-- particularly, as a self-studier, I find the text very accessible.
I would characterize my level (giving myself the benefit of the doubt) as advanced undergraduate.
Thanks