autistics and fiction

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A generalisation about autistics is that they don't like to read fiction. What do people think of this? How many people on this board like to read fiction, if so what type of fiction.


sorry if this question has already been asked but couldn't find the answer.

I prefer non-fiction, and often find fiction to be 'strange' in it's cultural sophistication. Some of the more sophisticated writers appear to go to extremes when artistically expressing their cultural reality, and to me it seems like a HUGE SHAM.....and not only that but it seems like they are extremely MENTALLY ILL because of their social sophistication..... It is bizarre. However, some fiction I like.......this would be HIGH LEVEL literately superb philosophical and strange fiction (some Russian classics, for instance) But even there, often times when reading fiction I will not finish the book.

I can read philosophical works and never get bored, like I do with culturally sophisticated fiction. Fiction oftimes seems like a PUT ON, that is, dishonest!

I also like reading true ghost stories, true crime, books about near death experiences. I used to read books on 'ethics' alot but I am bored with that now, because I've pretty much covered that territory.

Most of my reading material is factual, but I love dystopian/utopian fictions, social critiques and science fiction. Fiction based on fact or possibilities probably wouldn't be seen as 'proper fiction' by some people. I do also love Mythologies and some classic lit though.

Fiction revolving around relationships really disinterest me though.

I like non-fiction, but I don't mind analytical and thoughtful fiction (see: stuff by Clarke, Heinlein, Bester, etcetera), that purveys ideas rather than characterizations.

I like fiction in the form of filmed media and comic books, however.

I read fiction. I love The Baby Sitters Club and I like to read aspie fiction stories, B&J fanfiction, thrillers, Archie Books, etc.

I prefer fiction over non-fiction personally but I read both.

I have never been heavily drawn to fiction, and in researching AS when I found out how common this trait seems, I was happy with that. I also am not an avid reader, but when I do read it is normally something associated with my current interest(s) and is always based in fact.

Even as a child, when I played I was not a fan of heavily fictional play. If I was playing with Hot Wheels cars I always was annoyed at my friends who wanted to play with toy cars that were twice the size of them. I never could comprehend how, in anyone's mind, a 1:64 scale toy car and a 1:24 scale toy car could go together. They just don't fit. I also had a dirt area in front of my house where I played and I actually created realistic 'worlds' in that dirt. I built roads, dug out traffic tunnels, dug rivers and lakes, and used my building blocks to make buildings. My play almost always mocked reality as closely as possible. All my friends had toy cars in their toy collections that were out-of-this-world looking and I didn't ever go for that. I preferred to play with police cars, ambulances, ice cream trucks, realistic cars and trucks, construction equipment, etc. And as long as it was all to the same scale, I was happy.

So to make a long story short, I have never been majorly drawn to fiction. Now I can't say I have never liked ANY fiction. I enjoyed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Inspector Gadget, and lots of other very fictional things. But mostly, reality dominated my play time. When I played as if I were a cop, I actually had a badge, toy gun, flashlight, etc. I wore the closest clothes that I had to what a cop would wear, and I used a note pad to write tickets. I even remember one little kid who got upset with me once because he believed I was really writing him a ticket for speeding on his bicycle.

I really like to read fiction, maybe even more than non-fiction. It depends on the type and subject, so for example I won't like to read romances or an introductory business course textbook.
My favorite author right now is Jorge Luis Borges, and I'm getting into Dostoyevsky. I used to love reading Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, but I haven't read any of those books for a long time. I think I'll get to that this summer... I'm currently occupied by Learning Perl and an introductory Russian textbook.

The idea that AS people have no imagination, period, clearly isn't true, but I think there may be truth in it in the sense that we must have this element of accuracy and reality in our imaginative play. I remember, like you, when I played as a child, I couldn't simply pretend that an object was something else when it clearly wasn't - I needed to use the actual item, or as close to it as possible. I needed games to be real on some level, and would get very upset and frustrated if other people simply ignored my setup as me 'just playing' and wouldn't co-operate.

I'm with you here, one random thing I remember was that I could never just move a toy car backwards and forwards, it had to actually be going somewhere. I also hates the ones where you pulled them back and they went on their own because it wasent logical and because I liked to reverse the cars sometimes.

I would say my reading consisted of around one quarter fiction, three quarters non-fiction. I certainly read a lot more non-fiction; I read a lot of reference books cover to cover. When I do find a novel I like, I tend to read it over and over again repeatedly.

I read quite a lot of children's/young adults' books, actually. I still enjoy a lot of the books I first read when I was nine or ten. Otherwise, I often read books dating back to the 1930s or earlier. I don't find much I relate to in modern adult fiction.

Ironically, considering that I'm not a huge fiction reader, I have written some fan fiction. I have a total inability to write original fiction. I believe it's related to the 'lack of imagination/need for elements of reality in imagination' factor: something does not become 'real' enough for my creative brain to believe in and think about - and therefore write about - unless I can first see it in front of my eyes.

I find it quite interesting in my writing that I find description and thought very easy to write, but action and dialog extremely difficult.

I read fiction and non-fiction pretty equally. I often have two books, one of each, going most of the time. I prefer true crime and biographies when reading non-fiction, but sometimes read histories of things in general.

In fiction, it has to have a certain wit and be a certain subject matter. I don't do romances. Blech. Mindless dribble. I do do science fiction, thrillers, horror, etc. It just depends. I have authors that I love and don't deviate alot from them.

am do not read books,apart from picture books like the okami complete works book.
do not like fake/fiction whether book or tv,and even though cartoons are fake will watch them for being a strong sensory seeker [visual] ,am get tranced by the colours and lines in things.

Hovis, you had some interesting things to say about adult vs child fiction. Some of my favorite reading is FAIRY TALES....and I too, like children's books.....even tho I'm fifty five......I L O V E Hans Christian Anderson's Tales. I love how he makes everyday objects into thinking, feeling, entities.

I love fiction, problem is I don't venture outside my comfort zone with fiction, and just read things I've heard about and am already somewhat informed about. I will read non fiction for 10 hours a day though if left to my own devices. I can read non stop about technology and absorb every last word of it.

I read a lot of fiction (a lot of non-fiction as well). Some of my favorite writers on the fiction side are Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Proust, Gore Vidal, P.G. Wodehouse. Melville, Colm Toibin, Evelyn Waugh, Andrew O'Hagan and Sean O'Casey. I also like to read poetry. Shelley, Yeats, Milton and Keats are my favorite poets.