I have already read through previous threads asking for books with neurodiverse characters/plots/themes and am seeking to refine my list. I’m hoping people here will be willing to help. I need to end up with a list of about 5 texts that represent different kinds of neurodiversity (autism, ADHD, but also Tourette’s, dyslexia, OCD, schizophrenia, Down’s, PTSD…), different racial/social/geographical/gender/sex/political identities, and that can be categorized as adult “literary fiction” (not YA or entertainment-oriented writing). Also, I haven’t found any poetry at all and really want to include some.
I made the following list based on suggestions already posted in this forum (I’ve only read one of them so far). Most of them are US or UK-oriented, many are queer, and most of them are by or about women and white people. I want to include some of each of those qualities, but I’m striving for inclusivity. I’m including notes about each from my research so far, but please correct me if my notes are wrong.
If you’re willing, would you identify your favorite picks from this list and suggest some other texts that would help me form a good reading list?
- Act Your Age, Eve Brown (Hibbert): ADHD, USA, female character, African-American character, chicklit, romance
- Almond (Won-Pyung): alexithymia, Korea, male character, literary, maybe YA
- Annihilation (Vandermeer): autism, USA, female character, scifi
- The Bird’s Nest (Jackson): DID, USA, female character, historical, literary
- The Book of Form and Emptiness (Ozeki): schizophrenia, USA, male character, Japanese-American character, literary
- The Children’s Crusade (Packer): ADHD, USA, male character, literary, historical
- Convenience Store Woman (Murata): autism, Japan, female character, literary
- Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries (Fawcett): autism, UK, female character, historical
- Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead (Austin): anxiety, USA, female character, literary
- The Extraordinaries (Klune): ADHD, USA, male character, YA
- Interesting Facts About Space (Austin): autism, paranoia, Canada, female character, literary, maybe romance
- Joan is Okay (Wang): autism?, USA, female character, Chinese character, literary, maybe chicklit
- Magpie (Carson): autism, USA, female character, African character, literary
- The Maid (Prose): autism, USA, female character, mystery
- Motherless Brooklyn (Lethem): Tourette’s, USA, male character, historical
- The Nowhere Girls (Reed): autism, brain injury, USA, female character, Mexican character, YA
- On the Edge of Gone (Duyvis): autism, Europe, female character, scifi, maybe YA
- One’s Company (Hutson): PTSD, USA, female character, literary
- Poppy Shakespeare (Allan): schizophrenia?, UK, female character, literary
- An Unkindness of Ghosts (Solomon): autism, post-USA/post-slavery, female or maybe NB character, scifi/speculative
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Jackson): OCD, agoraphobia, USA, female character, literary, horror
- The Weight of Our Sky (Alkaf): OCD, Malaysia, female character, historical, YA
by ProfDoomDoom