I first came across Fern Brady when watching Taskmaster last year and I instantly loved her and the way she approached the tasks. I found out after the show that she was autistic and that the show had been a freeing and welcoming experience for her.

What I didn’t realise until I listened to this book is how hard Fern’s life has been up to now. Her autobiography, narrated by herself in audiobook form, dives right into her life with no nice rosy filter applied.

From her time at school in a secure unit, to her self harm and suicide attempts, to her time working in a strip club at university, Fern lets us into her life and how the world isn’t set up for autistic people, and specifically for autistic women, who find it particularly hard to be diagnosed.

I wouldn’t say this was as easy read in any way, so you need to be prepared before going in, but it was enlightening and definitely worth reading/listening to, in order to get a perspective of how life can be so much harder for someone who is neurodiverse.

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Ten by Rylan Clark

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

4.0

Like I assume a lot of people, I had initially judged Rylan by the persona he out on during the X factor, but over the years I have warmed to him and I really love his show on Radio 2.

This book was an insight to the man behind the Rylan character- did you know his name is actually Ross?!

He’s had a really tough couple of years and the book opens with his darkest times - he laid it all on the table making himself very vulnerable and I could feel every emotion - made more intense by Rylan reading the audio book himself.

After a heavy start, it does get lighter and there are some really interesting stories from the last ten years of his career.

I thought this was fab, a great insight into his life - there were just a couple of chapters that I found a bit meh which is why I haven’t given five stars.

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loudgls89's reviews 675 reviews

loudgls89's reviews
675 reviews