Richard Holliday – Author

As someone who sits on the autistic spectrum and who enjoys reading, for a long time I felt I have been particular pernickety about my reading experience. For a while I chalked this up to being, well, fussy; however I’ve had a recent epiphany of sorts that this experience isn’t (just) that, but it’s intrinsically related to my being autistic.

As someone on the autism spectrum, and especially fairly recently, I have found that I am susceptible to various sensory joys (and, indeed, sensory disappointments) that I try to both aim for and avoid.

An example of a sensory disappointment from my everyday life would be something as simple as eating – I very much avoid foods where I have to handle messy, greasy or sticky foods with my hands directly – for instance, I will eat pizza with a knife and fork without fail as I simply do not enjoy the sensation of grease, sauce or anything on my hands.

How does this relate to reading? Easy – reading, to me, is a physical and sensory experience all its own. I have developed a very strong preference to read paperback books that I would like to explore in a bit more depth and hopefully people understand more.

Trim Size

I enjoy reading paperback books, but a legitimate purchasing decision, for me, will be the trim size, otherwise known as the physical size of the book as an object. In the UK, the “standard” size for a novel or paperback book is B-format (129 x 198mm or 5.1 x 7.8 inches). There is also a smaller, “mass market paperback” size available. Here’s why trim size is important:

• I use a series of IKEA Billy bookcases to store my books. These common book-cases have shelf mounting holes that allow the shelves to be configured in a way that allows for tight, consistent storage of B-format books, like in the image above. Books that do not fit these shelves have to go onto the larger middle shelves where my off-size books live. This means that series or authors may find their books across multiple shelves or not lined up in a proper order.
  • The arrangement of my bookshelves may not necessarily be a sensory disappointment and instead by an OCD-related disappointment, it’s a disappointment nonetheless
• Books that use very large trim sizes – often self-published or independent books – with high page counts may even be uncomfortable for me to hold and read. Books that I find physically uncomfortable to read will not get read.
• Large books are hard to keep in good condition. As a paperback reader I also take great caution to maintain my books in good condition. I have even bought some “library-style” plastic covers to slip on books that I take out to read as I do not want the corners or covers to become damaged. Large books cannot fit into these protective covers.
• Trim size, incidentally, is the main reason I choose paperbacks over hardbacks, as hardbacks are bulky to hold and read.

Page Colour

Pages should, as with most traditional novels, be cream or off-white in colour.

Cover Finish

I have a strong preference for glossy covers:

• Glossy covers are easier to maintain and protect as they are more hardwearing and can be more easily cleaned, and are less-easily marred or marked.
• Matte covers – especially those with large areas of solid and/or dark colour (such as Slow Horses above), attract ugly fingerprints that are hard to remove. The fact that I will leave fingerprints on these cover finishes does put me off wanting to handle them as I feel obliged to protect and preserve my possessions.
• Amazon-printed matte books tend to have a waxy-like texture that I absolutely can’t stand holding as I don’t enjoy the sensation of the book in my hands

There is some strange notion that glossy covers are somehow for “lower quality books” but I find that’s rarely the case. Certainly the decision should come down to how the finish enhances – or hinders – the art style of the cover.

Why not just use a Kindle?

The question does remain that, if I’m so particular about how I read in paperback, why I don’t use my Kindle to read ebooks where the experience, by design, is much more customisable and less at the whim of a publisher/author?

I stopped using my Kindle regularly years ago as I found I much prefer to hold a book in my hand and be able to experience those sensory joys when reading – feeling the pages, the weight in my hands, seeing my progress at a glance with how much I have left… and yes, even the scent sometimes.

It’s hard to quite quantify why I find the ebook experience so underwhelming now compared to reading books in paperback, but I have written before about how I turned my back on ebooks, despite clear technical advantages.

However I would conclude by saying that, ultimately, I read for pleasure – and the medium is part of the pleasure in my opinion, so if a book disappoints me before I’ve even turned a page due to some of the choices made by the publisher or author then it sets is on an uphill slope. And while I realise that, to a degree, this is me being quite fussy and particular, as reading is a leisure activity to me, I am entitled to my views.

I’d be interested to hear what other autistic people feel about sensory joys that they are aware of in both reading and any other sphere.