Does anyone read fiction books?

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I've noticed it says on a few autism tests "doesn't read fiction" or something like that, but I read fiction (and get obsessed over book series). I still read more fact based information than stories though.
Do you read fiction, and how much do you read (both fiction and non-fiction)?

I do read fiction, but prefer fact-based, informative novels.
The Martian, for example, kept me enthralled with accurate information, attention to detail and ingenious problem-solving.
I also liked how it was mostly written as a series of diary entries.

On the other hand, I'm also fond of reading comedic fantasy, such as the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

My main preference is still non-fiction, however.
I'll probably read 10 non-fiction books to one fiction novel.

I am currently reading the works of Lovecraft.

But it is not often that I read fiction.

I read fiction, but think I have an easier time with a first-person narrator, though I do love some conversational writing like Shakespeare or Wilde. But, they are more philosophical, and that is what tends to draw me to fiction. Also aesthetics. I could read a non-fiction book on war and love it, but I can't deal with Tom Clancy--no style, no characters with interesting perspectives. But the gun models are all perfect.

There are also Kafka and Borges, who have almost no dialogue.

I began to read fiction at an early age and never stopped. Books, novels, non-fiction, stories, were and are a form of contact with another person on a meaningful level. Readers are not passive, they bring their meanings and understandings to the writer's meanings and understandings, so reading became and remained a powerful form of encounter for me, a chance to see something through another person's experience, to learn things I would otherwise not learn, to know things I would otherwise not know, to feel and experience a sense of connection with some novelists whose particular sensibilities match, counterbalance or somehow extend my own. Without books there were times in my life that would have been almost unbearable, particularly my childhood. Libraries were then and are now one of my favourite places and I read 100 plus novels a year, and non-fiction on specific topics that interest me.

The notion that we don't have sufficient mental flexibility or capacity to make any imaginative leap thus enabling us to understand the themes and perspectives of fiction is itself a fiction, and a very insulting and condescending one IMO..

Some WP members are published novelists, at least one of a very high calibre. I reviewed novels as a columnist for a national newspaper for three years and moonlighted for a time as a publisher's reader and editor. In books we can focus and interact with what the writer has to say without social distractions and social judgments being imposed on how we engage in that meeting of minds. No wonder some of us like fiction so much. To some of us it is the real world Haven.

Have you (or others) run into this much? One of the obstacles in pursuing a diagnosis with my therapist is that he finds it strange that I like reading and writing fiction. I think that's a bit silly, especially since this view doesn't take into account how and why I like fiction, types of fiction read, and my approach to writing fiction. Personally, I find that the fiction I like deals in philosophical and emotional truths, and can be easier to read than philosophy because many philosophers are not good (or clear) writers. And while the stereotype may be that non-fiction appeals to people on the spectrum, non-fiction is not necessarily all factual or unbiased.



This is very much my view. I often think of fiction (and all books) as the conversations I wish I could have with people. I mean, you're never going to have to read 200 pages of someone blabbing about their kids or bitching about the weather, right?

While i do prefer non fiction i also read plenty of fiction books. As a matter of fact, my favorite book of all time, Carmilla, is fiction. Right now i am reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter and enjoy it a lot.

I read fiction all the time! I normally only bother with non-fiction if I have something specific that I need or want to learn, but reading and writing fiction are among my favorite activities.

I love reading fiction. I love nonfiction as well depending on the subject matter. But I can't even tell you how many times I read the Harry Potter series and as far as I know, I am pretty sure that is fiction although I have such a great imagination, I often pretend it's not! I have a very vivid imagination and always have.

I have also written short stories and they were certainly fiction. And I know that several members here have written short stories as well. I have even read some of them. I think it is absolutely stupid to say that Autistic people don't read fiction and don't have the imaginative capacity to do so. Absolutely ridiculous. And it's a shame that a psychologist should base a diagnosis on that. I would find a different diagnostician. I had a similar experience when a psychiatrist told me once that I can't be Autistic because I have emotions and Autistic people don't have emotions.

I have always loved reading fiction, and I read quite often. I have a very strong preference for fiction, and my preferred genres are horror, fantasy, urban fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, and thrillers.

i love to get lost in a good work of fiction -- always have!

This is almost exactly how I'd describe my reading habits Except I prefer psychological thrillers to horror. I have a huge love of fantasy, even when I watch movies they are usually of the same genres of my preferred reading. I've even been told to "broaden my horizon" because I was apparently talking about the books I was reading too much. I definitely am an escapist.

I began to read fiction at an early age and never stopped. Books, novels, non-fiction, stories, were and are a form of contact with another person on a meaningful level. Readers are not passive, they bring their meanings and understandings to the writer's meanings and understandings, so reading became and remained a powerful form of encounter for me, a chance to see something through another person's experience, to learn things I would otherwise not learn, to know things I would otherwise not know, to feel and experience a sense of connection with some novelists whose particular sensibilities match, counterbalance or somehow extend my own.

Absolutely! Me too! And I just got diagnosed on the spectrum at 63.

Most of what I know about people and relationships comes from fiction. Recently, I've added stand-up comedy as a resource. I also did a lot of acting from grammar school through college, and the only time I was caught at my emotions being all "book learning" was in a seminar with the director George Roy Hill.

I also write fiction. I just got an email that Publisher's Weekly will be reviewing my book, "No Child Left Behind," so I'm all excited.

The semi-comic story is about coming of age mired in ADHD and aliens. (main character based on my younger child)
If any of you would like to read and review it, it's free with a Kindle subscription, $2.99 without. Also available in print.

Or, if you're on Goodreads, there will be 20 free "read and review" epubs for members of the group "For Love of a Book" in mid-July.

"Personally, I find that the fiction I like deals in philosophical and emotional truths, and can be easier to read than philosophy because many philosophers are not good (or clear) writers.


That's exactly what I like, and why I like speculative fiction. You are "allowed" to seriously consider more divergent personalities and cultures and priorities if they are explicitly "alien."

In my own writing, I wanted to write a feminist "new" Nicomachean Ethics. Nowadays, however, no one would read that stuff except a few people in universities. So, following the example of the guy who wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I've started doing it through spec fic.

This is a very interesting question, and it's one I wish some researcher would study in detail. I think there are definitely patterns here, but they aren't simple yes/no patterns. Some may be statistically gender-based -- on average, more women are fiction readers than men. And on average, it also may be true that spectrum people read less fiction that NTs. And I bet there are differences in the categories of fiction read in the different groups -- lots more sci-fi, fantasy, etc., readers among us than among the NTs. The actual preference patterns would be very interesting to see. I wonder if it isn't correlated as much with personality type as with aspieness, and that it's simply a matter of more aspies having certain personality types on average.

As a kid, I was always one of those who absolutely hated fiction. I hated having to read "stupid stories" in elementary school. I eventually did find a series for kids called "Encyclopedia Brown" (talk about an aspie stereotype), and that I liked -- a boy-detective kind of series, very fact-based.

As an adult, I've always read very extensively in poetry, sometimes in drama, but (with the one exception of Moby-Dick), I never read novels. ("To read Moby-Dick and absorb it is the crown of one's reading life.") I don't know that I've ever had the experience of "getting lost" in a story, and the notion of imagining that you're the lead character seems totally bizarre to me. My vision of Hell would be to have to spend all eternity in a room with nothing but Jane Austen novels.

I do read fiction. I notice the most fiction I read is more based on reality. I don't read many sci fi or fantasy. I also do enjoy stories about disabled characters in them or quirky characters. Right now I am reading a book and it has an autistic character in it and the way the author writes it tells about different characters in it so it's not all about Robbie and his birds. It's called Sparrow Migrations by Cari Noga. I have been reading it on my Kindle for free because I have that membership where I can read some books for free than buying them. I did enjoy books as a child like Babar, Arthur, Goldielocks and the Three Bears, Three Little Pigs, Three Little Kittens, Pokey Little Puppy, Little Hippo Starts School, Curious George, Bearenstein Bears, Sally's Room, and I enjoyed chapter books like Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and I enjoyed Harry Potter in my late teens after I saw the first movie so I started to read the books when I was 17 and 18. I also read Jurassic Park novel when I was 15.