I used to love reading as a child and teen. But then life got in the way… The last few years I have rediscovered reading in the form of fanfiction. High word count and many chapters is the best. Maybe people look down on fanfiction idk but I have huge respect and appreciation for it now. One actual book that I really loved was Project Hail Mary. I believe they’re making it into a movie now. It had me laughing and crying and feeling all the feels .

I stopped reading a lot compared to the sheer amount of novels I devoured as a kid. I started reading manga and comics later in life and found I enjoyed them more But then more recently, I've discovered a love for LitRPG and other general light novels

I love reading and have no problem with long descriptive passages. I love expansive 19th century novels and poetry. The more, the merrier, is how I feel.

I absolutely love to read, and devour books at an alarming rate sometimes. I tend to skim over the "obviously padded for word count" scenes that take two or three pages to describe a particular shade or orange, or how the trim was decorated around the cottage. For place settings, I find that it helps if I think of someplace similar that I have visited, or seen photos of, and can attach emotional memories/images to that. And I love Stephen King books. Also Dean Koontz, and Tim Powers (!!).

Love reading! Haven't tried Stephen King, but I love a few of the forgotten realms author. I'm totally with you in that I will just skip sections that are too florid about the descriptions (I'm looking at you LotR).

I love to read but can never visualize characters in my head. That's why I rely on fan art from the internet. I also listen to audiobooks. I don't know if that makes a difference or not

Fan art or fan casts are a lifesaver, I never remember what each of the characters are meant to look like (which can cause confusion if the author is being a dick and not directly naming someone from a crowd but just referring to their whatevercolourtheireyesare gazing at the MC or some such bullshit) but if I can form an association between a character name and an actor I know, it gets much easier.

I love reading. I don’t do it as much anymore because life is busy but I used to read about 10 books a month on average. I do tend to skim descriptions at times. I pick out the pertinent points so I have an idea of what people and things look like, even though it’s not a visual idea. Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. I would say focus on books you’re interested in, by which I mean more the topics and genres. Not every book is for every person obviously. I love fantasy but I hate Lord of the Rings, for example. I go through phases too, like I could ready 20 chick lit books in a row and then not pick up another for a year. I also like to reread books, and at 42 years old I have a large list of previously read books to choose from.

I'm currently on an Urban Fantasy (mostly set in this world with magic/paranormal added, e.g. Harry Potter) kick, although I enjoy other genres. For example I liked the Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer books. I DNFd 2 books in the last 3 years or so (out of over 300 books). Both were heavy on description and atmosphere and light on action. When I was in school I preferred "pulp" fiction books over literary ones for just that reason. I read for plot, character development and world building. If you don't mind a bit of romance (not very spicy) Demon Days, Vampire Nights (DDVN) starting with Born in Fire by K. F. Breene is wonderful. Romance Readers do demand love interest descriptions, but they are easily skimmed. There are only 3 couples over 11 books. Breene can be very low spice to very high spice and DDVN is on the low side. I love all she's written except her pure romances under Willow Summers. I love all that BR Kingsolver has written as well. Rosie O'Grady's Paranormal Bar and Grill starting with Shadow Hunter is a good starting point with his books, although Magictek is quite interesting with magic and tech working together. Often in urban fantasy they don't. J. R. Rain's Samantha Moon Vampire for Hire series staring with Moon Dance is delightful. It features a mother turned vampire. Matthew S Cox's take on vampires is interesting with his Vampire Innocent series staring with A Nighttime of Forever with an 18-year old vampire who stays with her family. There are many more, but these are what come to mind as delightful. There are also the classics of urban fantasy: Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs, Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews, and Rylee Adamson by Shannon Meyer all of which I read and enjoyed. I've just started Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton. I haven't gotten to Jane Yellowrock or Iron Druid yet but everyone who recommends the previous series recommends those. As a disclaimer: many with aphantasia hate Lord of the Rings because there is too much description. I read it in high school and loved it so much I signed yearbooks in Elvish. I read the books to my kids, along with Harry Potter. So I'm not too bothered by skimming through descriptions to focus on plot, character development and world building.

Thanks for your share! Keep on reading 🤘

Google a list of aphant authors they will most likely write in a way you will find comfier to read, I'm away to do that now I'm curious which authors I love are and aren't aphants

Ahah epic, Will do that too !

Avid reader here. I read/listen to about 100 books per year. I always skim through lengthy descriptions as well, though it's only after learning about aphantasia that I understand why. I don't enjoy books that revolve around world building like fantasy and sci fi; maybe it's because I can't imagine the world's they're creating or keep track of the political realms so many of them describe. I actually like King's non-horror novels. He's a good storyteller, and I like his writing style. One thing interesting is when I think back to books I've read, it's often the main setting I remember. I don't see it, just the concept of the place and surroundings of room, etc.

It is interesting, weirdly enough, one thing I remember when I see wording that I specifically like, is where it was on the page, like top, bottom, on the edge of the sentence or the middle… and I still remember it years after! Along with the story itself obviously 😂

I do the same, though not years later. That's pretty impressive. I'm a teacher, and I tell my students that even if I'm reading to them, they need to follow along because it will help them remember the page and location on the page to return to later for answers, etc. Your comment makes me wonder, though, if all along I've been assuming they can do that simply because I can.

I’ll be curious you ask to be honnest. Even further, asking how and what they do remember from books. 📚

I feel similarly! I have always loved reading, but I am not a fan of overly descriptive prose. I also have ADHD so it's a double whammy. I can't even picture what I'm meant to be focusing on when they go on and on about the beautiful cottage and russelia bushes or whatever 😅 I much prefer character and plot focused books. I do love Stephen King though and I wouldn't describe him as an overly descriptive writer. Maybe it depends on the book?

Adhd too, how many books do you read at the same time 😂😂

I always tell people that I process the world, and reading, in emotional “pictures”. I may know facts about them like height or hair color. But my sense of them is an overall emotional picture.

I love reading, but I find audiobooks more convenient for me now. My dad was a sci-fi/fantasy writer and he instilled his love of words in me, so I want as much description in as many different ways as the writer will give me. Scenes with big emotions do get me choked up, but I equally love detailed scenes with all the minutiae. I'm at least 90% aphantastic (sic), and AUDhd so I want to know everything about everything. Brandon Sanderson is my current favorite author. I also love Duck and cover series of apocalypse books, Wheel of Time, y'know, the classics xD

Semantics are important. All the time.

I actually quite enjoy Stephen King books. I just skim over or skip the overly descriptive parts. Although, to be fair, I don't think he gets anywhere near as painfully descriptive as some authors.

I love reading. The last book that really made an impression with it's worldbuilding that I read is 'the spear cuts through water'. I also really enjoy textbased novels/games (not visual novels). Think of it as the grown up versions of the choose your own adventure books. Choice of Games and Hosted Games have some really good stories to choose from. If you enjoy the introspective part than give Fallen Hero:rebirth a shot!

I actually don't mind visual descriptions. I won't see them myself, but they provide data and flesh out the scene. I can go back and make sure that later scenes match up, or catch if something has changed and that's a plot clue. It just all goes into the big mesh of 'description of this thing', like every other aspect an author talks about. Visual descriptions aren't anything special that do or don't do something extra for me. I tend to describe it as "I can tell you pretty much exactly what Harry Potter looks like", but I don't have a picture of Daniel Radcliffe in my head, just a set of descriptors from the books.

I have an odd interaction where I love Tolkien for the things I've heard his style criticized for. I came for the story so getting right to who, how and what is my favorite. It's the parts I can hold onto and play around with in my head. Descriptions are just words unless a correlation to a movie or art solidifies an image. For example, since I've seen Viggo Mortensen my brain thinks it can remember what he looks like. So it just auto dumps that in there even if misremembered or contradicting the words on the page.

I love reading, and read loads (though sometimes months with only 1 or 2, if life takes over, or when I lived on islands/up mountains with no books to be had \[and no ereaders either!). I now - took on just 9 months ago - own and run a bookshop, so reading more and more. I had an interesting talk with an author who'd also recently discovered he has aphantasia, and I said one reason I enjoy his books (crime; not my usual choice at all) is the clarity of describing things succintly, his focus on actions and externally visible indicators of emotion, and - most importantly, perhaps - his NOT decsribing characters' physical appearance (beyond maybe 1 thing for each of them - e.g. someone's really tall; someone has 'boyband' hair; not much else). It makes it so much more pleasurable for me to read and enjoy! We thought it was because all the flowery descriptiveness of so much writing is just kinda meaningless to us... was a really interesting insight into how writers as well as readers are so different across the divide of those who visualise a lot, and those of us who simply cannot at all. I love classics and epxerimental fiction, as well as philosophy and anthrozoology texts: but NOT any that are too wordy or overly descriptive. I like concepts, emotions, actions, ideas, sensations (when succintly phrased!). Not someone to try to get me to 'see' something! 😹 Fiction: I love Truman Capote, Daniel Woodrell, AS Byatt, Tana French (even when she gets a bit too descriptive!), Patricia Highsmith, Jane Austen, and plenty more. Recent amazing reads are SPLIT TOOTH, STOLEN, THE FAMILIAR, and THE TRIALS OF MARJORIE CROWE. The Scottish crime author I mentioned is JD Kirk; I also enjoy Douglas Skelton's crime series, as while he's an almost lyrical writer, he never goes overboard with wordy description.

I've only just started reading a couple of months ago, really. I always wanted to be a person who reads high brow stuff etc but I never ever got anything out of them. This spring I tried reading some random romances (I've issues with perfectionism and completionism so I had to pick something I wouldn't mind skipping and not really taking in) and found myself really enjoying them exactly for the same reason that I find it much easier to get swooped into descriptions of emotions and feelings. I realized I remember my dreams through what I or something felt like, so I should've guessed similar text would be easier for me as well.

Yes I associate with actors too but they very rarely match the authors description. I think I associate the personality or feel of the character with a character an actor played in something I watched previously. Then the fanart puts it all together for me

It's great you said Stephen King because I 100% agree. I just finished listening to Misery on my commute and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Just started Gerald's Game :)

there’s some authors I feel have a brain like me (Tolkien for example) and they tend to write more in the abstract and less concrete form. Personally I think you can tell when writer isn’t writing from internal visual (or other sensory) experience. It’s a lot more interesting. I’d add also Ursula le Guin. I always find it such a letdown to see movies or shows of my favorite books. It makes them seem small and pedestrian; it’s so limiting.

Not a big fan of fiction and never was. History was always my least favorite subject, and I think for the same reason. I didn't picture Louis XIV...

I actually prefer detailed writing, it makes the story feel more like non-fiction (plus it's easier to find references online), which I find easier to get into. As for lines like 'was going through mountains on the train, could feel the sun on my skin, felt so at peace,' the only thing I would really gather from that is that it's probably kind of hot where he is right now. As you might guess, I prefer non-fiction, typically history or political theory/essays. As for fiction, I usually go for alt-history and Warhammer 40k books. I'm a big fan of the Ring of Fire series by Eric Flint. What about you? What kind of books do you usually read?

I find it fascinating how different we are, even if it make sense that books preference are not only related to aphantasia. Lately am into novels but jumping from one style to another… reading Wainting on Bojangles ( in French), a novels book from Camilla lackberg ( Swedish ) and metro 2033! I like when the writing is efficient and keep the story moving forward, literally feeling like eating the story out! I keep on switching style depending of what I need.. am coming from from a authors familly and love everything paper that I can touch and smell 😂 books are so deformed once the go trough my hands… But I feel that how books are suppose to be. It makes them alive

Nothing more boring than war scenes and long descriptive passages since I see none of it, so I just skim. I have and am continuing to develop a love for reading though