Reading difficulties related to autism?

I think this can be a gender thing, men are thought to be less able to rememver names and faces than women, whether its cultural or evolutionary isn't known, but it's thought to be more likely evolutionary. I don't think it's an autism thing, as I've known loads of men many of whom aren't autistic have problems remembering names and faces and even more so putting them together properly.

VerityL said:

I didn't consider this before but now I've had a bit of time to think it over I was wondering if it might be an autistic quirk I've somehow acquired. 

This came to me in my 40s and I don't recall it from before then.

It could be age related decline of just an accumulation of autistic traumas, names from work you need to remenber etc leaving less capacity for trivial stuff like characters in books.

Hi VerityL,

I have exactly the same thing! Also in TV/Films.

A bit like you, I don't remember having this issue as a youngster, but I am also a lot older than you (I clicked on your profile).

I am a bit more resigned to it than you. I still persist with books and TV/Films because I have found that it doesn't matter too much (or my mixed-up version of the story is better - ha ha). I must admit that I am particulary struggling with the new James Bond novels (currently reading "Double or Nothing") which focus more on all the Double 0s and not James Bond. I constantly don't know who's whol

To be honest, I'm kind of glad you've posted this (even though I am sorry that you suffer from it) because it's always nice to know that you are not alone.

I don't know if it's anything to do with Autism or not.

VerityL said:

It's put me off reading a little because by the end I've got the plot ingrained in my memory but can't remember who's who.

I try to visualise the characters to keep their names in mind but like you, this does not always work, especially in a complex plot with dozens of characters in different threads of the story.

I found keeping a sheet of A4 in the book to write the character and a one line summary of them helped. You can add a bit more to the entry for that character if they die, turn bad, get married etc.

This is especially helpful when some books span multiple volumes. I'm reading a load of books from an author called Raymond Feist at the moment and there are about 20 books set in the world with lots of character interactions across continents, storylines and continents so this helps me when I think "who the heck are they again?".