I would like to nominate
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. From Goodreads:
Quote:
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.
Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructed universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.
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I read this book when it was first published, and couldn't put it down. I found it totally convincing, and though I have no personal experience of living with an individual with Asperger's Syndrome, I was interested when I went in to Goodreads to get the quote above to see that a person whose reviews I follow gave it five stars, and in talking about the book, revealed that his daughter is severely autistic. That seemed to be a very strong endorsement to me.
Don't be put off by all that though - the book is by turns funny and heartbreaking.
Kobo: $US12.99, $C13.99, $A12.99, ￡3.99.
(I imagine it would be widely available in libraries also.)