My first autism reading list was given to me after I got my “diagnosis”. My second reading list is books I found myself. These are some of the books that have come out since I found out I was autistic. And they are all by autistic writers. There’s much more now, and more being published all the time.
As Joanne Limburg says in Letters to My Weird Sisters about learning from other lives, “I realised that other people had experienced the same kinds of painful moments and for the same reasons.”
There is so much I identify with when reading about other people’s experiences, especially women. Especially the older ones.
In a world where so many "experts" and researchers still get it wrong (and where the "diagnostic manual" trades in deficits) there's a notable amount of consistency in the way that #ActuallyAutistic people describe their own experiences among themselves.
(I do read other books too, usually about ten per month. Maybe it is my “special interest”.)
The Electricity of Every Living Thing
by Katherine May (2019)
Diary of a Young Naturalist
by Dara McAnulty (2020)
I loved the picture of his close-knit, deep-feeling, supportive mostly autistic family. I like what he says a about “stimming”: “It’s not weird. It’s just different. Some neurotypical people talk incessantly.” Yup.
Explaining Humans
by Camilla Pang (2020)
It’s billed as a book to explain neurotypical people to neurodiverse peple (she is autistic and ADHD) but actually I think it’s explaining people to themselves. She is young and a scientist so I didn’t identify with much of this, but she did explain the “no filter” thing well. People think “no filter” is about outputs – autistic people saying what they think even if it’s not appropriate. But it’s also about inputs, which is why we tend to have sensory issues.
Letters to My Weird Sisters
Subtitle: On Autism and Feminism
by Joanne Limburg (2021)
Favourite lines: “I’ve learned how to arrange my face for the outside world.” “My voice is too quiet but also too loud.”
I also liked her poetry book The Autistic Alice. She writes poems about Alice in a way that reflects the experience of an autistic girl growing up.
Drama Queen
Subtitle: One Autistic Woman and a Life of Unhelpful Labels
by Sara Gibbs (2021)
I identified with so much in this memoir about being an undiagnosed autistic female. A lifetime of embarrassing moments.
Favourite line: “Honestly, I’m not that bad… you just have to spend the next ten years getting to know me.”
She is also one of the people behind the excellent autistic-written satirical website The Daily Tism.
No-one is Too Small to Make a Difference
by Greta Thunberg (2021)
A short collection of speeches. “I think in many ways we autistic are the normal ones and the rest of the people are pretty strange.” Yeah…
What I Want to Talk About
by Pete Wharmby (2022)
His first book, after making his name as an autistic advocate on social media. It’s focused on “special interests” and I identified with a lot of it even though he is younger and male.
On making friends: “I do not think I feel comfortable in someone’s presence until I have known them for years.”
On forgetting about self-care: “I simply took it all in my stride …. Masking even against myself.”
His follow-up book was Untypical (2023) and is subtitled “How the world isn't built for autistic people and what we should do about it”, which is self-explanatory.
Ten steps to Nanette
by Hannah Gadsby (2022)
Another memoir. A good read although her life story is quite traumatic.
I liked this bit about being at the Edinburgh fringe: “I had learnt to manage my environment better, and had avoided all the usual ASD pitfalls that had drained my reserves in previous years, things like talking to people, and also socialising with people who talk, and not to mention other things like talking to people who talk.”
Hmm, it feels as if the talking thing is a bit of an issue for me.
Strong Female Character
by Fern Brady (2023)
“If you’ve ever been on a night out where you got blackout drunk and have laughed the next day as your friends tell you all the stupid stuff you said, that’s what being autistic feels like for me: one long blackout night of drinking, except there’s no socially sanctioned excuse for your gaffes and no-one is laughing.”
“Autism is so insular and self-contained that for us, asking for help sometimes feels like going against our nature.”
Girl Unmasked
by Emily Katy (2024)
Another female autism memoir, with some dark moments.
On mental illness: “I believe that, for most autistic people, there is a point when living in a world that caters wholly for neurotypical people and ostracises autistic people breaks you. When working ten times harder than anyone else to get through each day because you have a different neurotype is too exhausting to maintain. ”
On getting a diagnosis: “an overwhelming relief at finally knowing… confusion about why it had taken so long… joy at knowing the truth… sadness for all the years I hadn’t… anger at the adults around me who hadn’t noticed.”
An important question: “Why is the majority neurotype the one we have to accommodate all the time?”
There’s also a list of “Things I do that are apparently rude.” And another list in the author’s note at the beginning called “Why lists are great”. I liked this a lot.
Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things?
by Pierre Novellie (2024)
He is newly diagnosed with autism aged thirty-something, has done a lot of research on it since and summarised it in the book. A useful, engagingly written resource to help autistic people understand themselves.
When he was a child, a teacher suggested he be tested for deafness. That happened to me.
He also debunks the popular notion of “on the spectrum”: “Autism is a spectrum disorder once you are diagnosed… your autism can manifest across a wide spectrum of signs and symptoms.”
Wired Our Own Way
Subtitle: An anthology of Irish autistic voices
Edited by Niamh Garvey (2025)
These are personal essays, some by professional writers, some not. I particularly liked Roisin Riley and Cliona Kelliher on books, and Naoise Dolan on languages.
And the timeline at the back is an eye-opener. There’s been so much change in my lifetime that it’s no wonder I didn’t get a diagnosis as a child/teen.
And there’s my book too
My memoir Atypical Girl is out in February 2026. It’s partly about my adventures as a music journalist in Liverpool but also about going through adulthood without knowing you are autistic. I hope you like it.
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