Reading fiction

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I used to be an avid reader as a child and found it to be very enjoyable, but as an adult reading feels, as the OP put it, "like studying". I just don't have the attention span for it anymore. Hell, I can barely sit through a 2 hour movie, let alone a book that takes many hours to read!

I love fiction.

I prefer really interesting non-fiction to fiction overall, although I appreciate a very well written fictional book. The problem I have is when the plot is too obvious and you've guessed it well before the end. I have a particular genre of non-fiction book I like and I would definitely take that over even a well written fictional book any day.

It's the same with TV, I like a good film, but I always notice holes and ridiculous events in the plot, and I'm far more absorbed in and excited by a really fascinating scientific documentary.

I read both fiction and non-fiction. I find some works laborious, but it's not so much due to genre as it is how my brain responds to the writing.

I tend to focus mostly on SF and fantasy, and genre adaptations (like Star Wars novels or whatever). I totally identify with Temple Grandin's statement about movies and Shrek being more to her taste.

I enjoy reading fiction.

I love reading fiction, it's one of my favourite things to do (though I like some non-fiction too)

I'm sorry to hear you find it so straining.

I like reading fiction, but sometimes I wish people wouldn't put in so much detail as it takes a lot of time.

I spend most of my time reading fiction. It's my favourite activity.

I don't read fiction because I find it difficult to engage with. I can not create images of what characters or places look like, and so I find it difficult to connect with the characters and follow the storyline. It takes a lot of effort for me, and to be honest I just don't find it as interesting as non-fiction.

Fiction books were my special interest in my childhood! I read the entire children's fiction section at my local library (it was a large library, so that was an entire room full of books) and had to talk my parents into taking me to the one in the next town so I had more books to read. I graduated from Enid Blyton to Brian Jaques to Terry Pratchett and was obsessed all the way along.

I've noticed that in topics like this everyone is usually at one extreme or the other. I know it's common for autistic people to struggle with imaginitive literature (it's even in the diagnostic criteria) but it seems very common for them to be obsessed with it, too! I think it's probably because of the escapism it provides. Most of my special interests have been a form of escapism because I found so much of life and social interaction difficult.

No offense to any fiction lovers here, but my view is, what's the point?

I read primarily nonfiction books, but I do like some fiction such as:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Great Expectations, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

I don't dislike fiction, and I need to immerse myself into an "otherworld" on a regular basis (even if it's realistic fiction, it's still a different world) in order to feel safe or be able to get a good night's sleep.

But books take a relatively long time for me to read (I have a compulsion to read and imagine every single detail, which is part of why I like an economical writing style), and I have to prioritize my reading material. Reading nonfiction increases my general knowledge pool or informs me about a special interest and is therefore more useful than reading fiction. There's still plenty of fiction I want to read, and some of it is justified in terms of the increased potential for social bonding, but when it's time to choose a new book I mostly find nonfiction more appealing.

I don't get why so many other Aspies have difficulties with fiction - I seem to get the hang of it just fine.

That said; sometimes I get lost in the minor cast members, but aside from that I generally do alright.