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Athena's Reading List 2018


Athena

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On ‎15‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 2:52 PM, Athena said:

I read Naoki Higashida - The Reason I Jump. This book had been on my wishlist for several years and I recently decided to buy it (and then read it soon after getting the book in the post). This book is an autism memoir written by a 13-year-old Japanese boy with autism. Most of the book is told in a question and answer format, in which the author answers a question in about 1 or 2 pages per question. The book also comes with a couple of mini-stories the author wrote.

 

I think it's very impressive that the author has written this book. He has (or had) trouble with spoken communication and managed to write this book using an alphabet grid (like thing).

 

I quite liked some parts of the book, I recognised myself in some of the answers the author gave. I was a bit disappointed not to recognise myself in other answers (and questions!) the author gave (to be the opposite even or to have very different reasons than the author for doing things). I didn't like how it seemed like he was speaking for all autistic people (often saying 'we' or 'us'), when some of the things he said just did not work for me in the same way that they did for him. I quite liked all the mini-stories, they were nice. There was a longer one at the end of the book, that was quite nice too.

 

Overall then I liked some parts of the book a lot, and other parts I was a bit disappointed by (by how it related to myself - I totally believe that that's how it works for the author! But I feel he cannot make generalisations that that's how it works for all people with autism).

 

 

I know I'm a bit late here but I thought your review of The Reason I Jump was interesting. I have heard of the book and I agree it's really impressive that the author managed to write it considering his communication issues. When my sister was diagnosed with aspergers I was given a couple of books to read with the idea that they would help me to understand what aspergers / the autistic spectrum was, I suppose (I would have been about ten at the time). So I read Blue Bottle Mystery: An Asperger Adventure (I just had to search the title of that one because I could just remember it was something about a blue genie - so I'm quite impressed I found it!) and later A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I can't remember the stories very well now but I do remember thinking back then that these characters are absolutely nothing like my sister. If anything I think they probably just confused me more. So your review got me thinking, is this an issue with books about autism, that they generalise about something that nobody experiences in the same way? It would be nice to see more books with diverse autistic characters so lots of different aspects of living with autism could be portrayed. 

 

I'm glad you've been enjoying your last few books too :)

 

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There are autistic people (If I can say it like that?) who say The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is not really an accurate portrayal (I read this on a website somewhere). Link to an article written by someone with autism about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I read several more some time ago but I can't seem to find them right now. I liked the book when I read it years ago, but I'm thinking of re-reading it and seeing how I get on with it now (but I'm also scared that I won't like it as much). It's true that some autistic characters in fiction, particularly if the book is written by someone who doesn't have much experience with autism, can be stereotypes or not so fitting.

 

I have also heard that between autistic people, autistic people among themselves are as different from each other, as people without autism are from each other. If that makes sense? You're right, we all experience things differently.

 

A lot of fictional characters with autism are boys/men. There aren't as many girls and women in fiction who have autism, and for girls/women the symptoms can be a bit different than for boys/men. I love that you read books to try and understand what your sister is going through!

 

An autistic woman wrote (but I can't find the article online anymore), that sometimes in books written by authors who don't know a lot about autism (not #OwnVoices, ie. not an author who has autism themselves), the autistic character who narrates has a specific quircky style of thinking, that is not really how autistic people think. I tried to find the article through Googling, in my bookmarks, and on the computer (I might have saved it), but I can't seem to find it yet. If I find it at a later time, I'll let you know.

 

I have to go now and take care of my animals, but if I think of anything to add to this later today or tomorrow or such, I'll reply.

 

EDIT: I found this article on the autism voice and narrative devices. I also believe I scrolled through this page and clicked on articles that interested me, ie. this article on autistic representation I found very interesting and made me think of things I didn't see before.

Edited by Athena
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You're right about there being a whole range of behaviors those with autism display. My daughter is on the autism spectrum and unlike the generally considered traits of autism, she is very affectionate and cuddly. She has a great sense of humour and is able to accurately read people's facial expressions, also characteristics not usually associated with autism. There were several other children with autism when she was attendng school and now at the day programme she attends, and each are very individual and delightful characters in their own right.

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23 hours ago, poppy said:

You're right about there being a whole range of behaviors those with autism display. My daughter is on the autism spectrum and unlike the generally considered traits of autism, she is very affectionate and cuddly. She has a great sense of humour and is able to accurately read people's facial expressions, also characteristics not usually associated with autism. There were several other children with autism when she was attendng school and now at the day programme she attends, and each are very individual and delightful characters in their own right.

 

It's so nice to hear/read about your daughter :).

 

14 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

The article on the autism voice looks good ( and thoughtful )  ; I`ve saved it to take a looksie later. :)

 

I hope you like it :).

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I have a number of bookish things to say, so where better than to tell my friends at the Book Club Forum :friends3:.

 

- Obsidio, the 3rd book in the Illuminae series by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is coming out tomorrow (here) and I just got an email my copy has been shipped (it should be here tomorrow). I'm so excited for this book and to read the conclusion to the trilogy :exc:.

 

- One of the books I'm currently reading is Vrouwen met autisme by Bronja Prazdny (the title means Women With Autism), which features a look at 13 Dutch (or Belgian??) women with autism. I was just reading the 3rd one, which is about a woman with autism who is an author. I've really liked all three pieces so far (the 3 women I read about), but this one featured her last name in the piece, and when I read she was an author, I of course needed to look up her books. She is having a new book released at the end of the month about a girl with autism growing up and I pre-ordered it and am very excited for it :exc: (it's called Zondagskind). I don't know of any other Dutch fictional books about a woman/girl with autism written by someone with autism, and there are only a handful I know of in English, and I am super excited to have found it and I hope it's good (it's #OwnVoices, since the author herself has the Syndrome of Asperger so I think it will be good). The author's name is Judith Visser and I found her website. You can order a signed copy of her 2016 book, In Seizoenen, which I did (which is also a novel / literary / contemporary fiction, I don't know if there is anyone with autism in it but the synopsis intrigues me). Her earlier work seems to be mostly thrillers and some of them seemed only available secondhand from sellers on various websites (or as ebooks, but I like physical books more). If I like the two books I bought/ordered, I might see if I can buy a couple of her thrillers, but the thrillers don't feature characters with autism to my knowledge and I prefer reading contemporary fiction over thrillers. But if I like the two novels a lot, I'm definitely going to look into buying more of her books. I'm really excited for both of the novels.

 

- Then on less nice news, the past few days I have had real trouble focussing on reading :(. I've read some pages in 7 different books (and want to read 5+ others) but am having trouble focussing on anything for more than a couple of minutes :banghead:. I tried reading some blog posts this morning and watching a couple of YouTube videos, but for most of the videos and posts I ended up having to close them again before I'd read / watched all, I just cannot focus. I managed to read the third piece in that "Women With Autism" book (see above), which was maybe 10ish? pages.

Last year in May, this is how my reading slump started then. I started about 20+ different books and I had real trouble focussing on any one book. I declared it officially over in September, it lasted a couple of months. I did manage to read some books during that time, but it was difficult to focus on them and I often got distracted.

Anyway, I'm hoping that right now is just a temporary state of not being able to focus, due to hormones, stress, headaches, stuff going on in my life (I might be getting a bit of an  important message by the end of the day, that I've been stressed about). I'm hoping that I will be able to focus more soon and that I'll be back to normal reading in a week or so, but I'm also a bit worried that this is the start of a long reading slump again. I would not like that at all :wibbly:. Reading is so so important to me. It's one of the very few things that don't cost me a lot of energy to do (when I can focus :rolleyes:), in comparison with a lot of other things. I don't have a lot of energy, so I definitely need reading in my life or I'll easily be too overloaded with input and have no energy left before the day is over.

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11 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Hopefully Obsidio and Zondagskind will help with your reading slump. :) Try to have some relaxing Doggie Time and fingers crossed this is just a minor blip. :empathy:

 

Thanks Sarah :friends3::hug:!

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I read Alice Oseman - Radio Silence. This is a YA contemporary fiction novel. I quite liked this book. I loved the focus on friendship. I liked how technology was important in this story. I liked the characters.

 

I'm glad I managed to finish a book, but I don't feel up for writing much of a review/thoughts on it, sorry :blush:.

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I read Bronja Prazdny - Vrouwen met autisme. This is a book about 13 women with autism (that's what the title means). I loved reading this book. I recognised a lot of things. It was so nice to read this book. I also loved the preface and introduction. Apparently (sensory) input problems is something a lot of autistic women have, more so than men. It was so nice to read about other people who have that too. I'm sorry I can't write a long review for this. There were 1 or 2 women in the book with whom I couldn't quite see as many similarities with myself, but with most of the women I feel I had quite a lot in common.

 

One thing I did notice (warning, tangent coming up) was that online friendships were not really mentioned in the book (that I recall, unless I missed it). A lot of the women did mention friends, but I don't remember any online friends being mentioned.

 

For me, online friendships work really well. It is much less tiring for me to type an email or a message to someone (message, not a chat) or to type a post on this forum, than it would be for me to go out and talk to someone in real life, or even phone with them, or to go to an actual book club and discuss a book with a group of people. With a message I have more time to think about what I want to type and how to respond, and I don't have to read into any body language or social cues. I don't have to think up a response really quickly.

 

I met several great friends and lots of nice people through this forum :friends3:. I don't have any good friends who live close by, except for people who are also family, or part of my family, or who I consider part of my family. If my friends lived closer to me (instead of in different countries), I do think I would see them from time to time, but it would be too tiring for me to spend a lot of time with them often. I dose seeing my family, on birthdays for example I can only be with my family for a short time until I go rest again, then see them again after I've rested. When I go somewhere with my parents or even if I've talked with them for a bit, I have to rest for a while again after it (and the same applies to my siblings). I can't spend all day with my family, and I couldn't spend all day with friends either. Michael and I live together, but we spend most of most our days doing our own separate things. And it works well for us, I think. We are currently both happy with the balance we have. We both need a lot of time on our own. But we both also love the time we spend together (it is usually in the evenings). Anyway, online friendships work really well for me, as they don't cost as much energy as a friend who would want to meet up every week for a day (or something like that). I love the friends I have. I hope no one feels offended by the fact that even if they did live close by, I would not be able to spend lots of time with them. That's not because I wouldn't want to, but  because it would be too tiring for me to do that too often. I hope no one is offended by that.

 

I was surprised online friendships were not mentioned in the book, since they are so important to me and they enable me to have really great friends without getting as tired from social interaction. I really liked reading this book, and I think it's definitely a book I'll want to re-read more than once.

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Your new book finds sound great, I look forward to seeing what you think of them!

 

Thank you for sharing the links to those articles, they were really interesting. Did you notice that the author of 'Narrative Devices and the Autism Voice,' Corinne Duyvis, also writes YA fiction? It says her novel 'On the Edge of Gone' is about an autistic girl during the apocalypse and it sounds like it might be interesting.

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, Athena said:

I read Bronja Prazdny - Vrouwen met autisme. This is a book about 13 women with autism (that's what the title means). I loved reading this book. I recognised a lot of things. It was so nice to read this book. I also loved the preface and introduction. Apparently (sensory) input problems is something a lot of autistic women have, more so than men. It was so nice to read about other people who have that too. I'm sorry I can't write a long review for this. There were 1 or 2 women in the book with whom I couldn't quite see as many similarities with myself, but with most of the women I feel I had quite a lot in common.

 

One thing I did notice (warning, tangent coming up) was that online friendships were not really mentioned in the book (that I recall, unless I missed it). A lot of the women did mention friends, but I don't remember any online friends being mentioned.

 

For me, online friendships work really well. It is much less tiring for me to type an email or a message to someone (message, not a chat) or to type a post on this forum, than it would be for me to go out and talk to someone in real life, or even phone with them, or to go to an actual book club and discuss a book with a group of people. With a message I have more time to think about what I want to type and how to respond, and I don't have to read into any body language or social cues. I don't have to think up a response really quickly.

 

I met several great friends and lots of nice people through this forum :friends3:. I don't have any good friends who live close by, except for people who are also family, or part of my family, or who I consider part of my family. If my friends lived closer to me (instead of in different countries), I do think I would see them from time to time, but it would be too tiring for me to spend a lot of time with them often. I dose seeing my family, on birthdays for example I can only be with my family for a short time until I go rest again, then see them again after I've rested. When I go somewhere with my parents or even if I've talked with them for a bit, I have to rest for a while again after it (and the same applies to my siblings). I can't spend all day with my family, and I couldn't spend all day with friends either. Michael and I live together, but we spend most of most our days doing our own separate things. And it works well for us, I think. We are currently both happy with the balance we have. We both need a lot of time on our own. But we both also love the time we spend together (it is usually in the evenings). Anyway, online friendships work really well for me, as they don't cost as much energy as a friend who would want to meet up every week for a day (or something like that). I love the friends I have. I hope no one feels offended by the fact that even if they did live close by, I would not be able to spend lots of time with them. That's not because I wouldn't want to, but  because it would be too tiring for me to do that too often. I hope no one is offended by that.

 

I was surprised online friendships were not mentioned in the book, since they are so important to me and they enable me to have really great friends without getting as tired from social interaction. I really liked reading this book, and I think it's definitely a book I'll want to re-read more than once.

 

You`ve expressed such lovely sentiments. :hug: And no, I wouldn`t be offended at all, if I lived nearby and you weren`t well enough to meet up. :D I often cancel things because I`m unwell, for instance with migraines, and a real friend has empathy and doesn`t take umbrage at that. :)  I have a friend a couple of doors away and we message far more than we actually meet up. :lol: Anyway,I think you can have far more in common with an online friend than someone who happens to be geographically near you. :)

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21 hours ago, Hayley said:

Your new book finds sound great, I look forward to seeing what you think of them!

 

Thank you for sharing the links to those articles, they were really interesting. Did you notice that the author of 'Narrative Devices and the Autism Voice,' Corinne Duyvis, also writes YA fiction? It says her novel 'On the Edge of Gone' is about an autistic girl during the apocalypse and it sounds like it might be interesting.

 

I've been waiting for On the Edge of Gone to come out in English paperback for a while now, but I've been buying more smaller hardcovers lately and got on okay, so I think I shall just add the hardcover to my to-buy-soon list :). I'm definitely interested in the story, thanks for reminding me of it :)!

(EDIT: I bought it, see below!).

 

17 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

You`ve expressed such lovely sentiments. :hug: And no, I wouldn`t be offended at all, if I lived nearby and you weren`t well enough to meet up. :D I often cancel things because I`m unwell, for instance with migraines, and a real friend has empathy and doesn`t take umbrage at that. :)  I have a friend a couple of doors away and we message far more than we actually meet up. :lol: Anyway,I think you can have far more in common with an online friend than someone who happens to be geographically near you. :)

 

:hug:

I agree, I think you can definitely have more in common with an online friend than with someone who happens to live nearby.

Edited by Athena
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I read het Boekenweekgeschenk of this year (book week gift), Griet Op De Beeck - Gezien de feiten. It took me a bit of time to get into this novella, but when I did, I enjoyed it. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the ending. I had to get used to some Belgian words used in the novella, but once I got used to it it was kind of nice that those words were there. I might have to check out other novels by the author, my parents have one (and they liked it) so I might have to borrow it and read it some time.

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13 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Hurrray for new books ! :exc:

 

On the Edge of Gone arrived today, the other two books I'll have to wait a bit longer for. I'm excited :D.

 

EDIT: Here's a picture:

 

OnTheEdgeofGoneCover_025.jpg

Edited by Athena
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I read Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - The Illuminae Files 3: Obsidio. I couldn't quite remember what had happened in the previous two books (since it's been a while since I read them), so I went online and read a bit about what happened in the previous two books. This book finishes off this science-fiction trilogy. And it was good :D. I really liked it. There were some twists I didn't see coming. I can't write a whole lot about the book since I don't want to spoil it. But I quite liked this book. The story in this series is written down in logs, chats, illustrations, video footage, and more. It makes the series unique (though I have read some other books with some of the same elements, none using all of these elements though), but I can also see that it's not for everyone, that some people might not like it. I liked it though. And I think I will re-read the series some time in the future :) (but then closer together).

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I read Laura James - Odd Girl Out. This is an autism memoir, of a woman with autism. Laura is married and has four children, she gets diagnosed later in life (when her children are teenagers-ish). I quite liked reading this book. I recognised quite a few things (even if some might work a bit differently for me). I of course didn't recognise the motherhood parts, I have no children and I have no intention of ever having any (though I do have animals). I also didn't recognise the parts to do with EDS and POTS, as I don't have these diseases.

 

I liked that Laura spoke with some experts and quoted them in the book. The story spans a period of Laura's life but sometimes goes back in time and describes an earlier time period. A couple of times I was a bit confused but mostly this format worked for me and it was nice to find out things about Laura in this way.

 

One small thing I missed, was that nowhere in the text it was mentioned when Laura decided to write the book / memoir. Unless I missed it, of course! (Which is totally possible, concentrating is hard for me and sometimes I do miss things). It's not a big thing or anything, but I was expecting for it to come up some time in the text and it didn't.

 

Overall I enjoyed learning about Laura and her life and I enjoyed recognising some things from my own life. I am amazed at how Laura managed to deal with all the things she did. I enjoyed this memoir and found it a nice read.

 

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Zondagskind by Judith Visser came out today, and I got my copy:

 

Zondagskind Cover.jpg

 

The picture doesn't have good lighting, but the other pictures turned out so blurry. Anyway, I'm so excited to read this book :exc:.

 

I read an interview of the author (Judith Visser) and in the interview she said she's going to translate Zondagskind into English herself and that it will be called Sunday Special. I hope I really like the book and if so, that there'll be an English version (which I can then recommend to non-Dutch/non-Belgian people). I might even be tempted to buy myself an English version.

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