Egotistical Writers

**LesMTS** · 5th April 2007, 9:56am

Ever read a book where the author can't stop kissing his own arse at every opportunity? I'm reading what is, on the whole, an extremely interesting piece of non-fiction just now which is being completely ruined by the fact that the author seems to be head over heels in love with himself.
Here's an excerpt (he's talking about Kenyan domination of marathon running)...
"I have run the L.A. marathon before..." ...fine...relevant, shows he has at least some knowledge of the subject...then, in parentheses, he adds "and I once even completed a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles in the open ocean and riding a bike 112 miles in the Hawaiian Ironman triathlon." So what? This wouldn't even be so bad if it was isolated but he brings up his athletic prowess at every opportunity...
"I was in the middle of a 3,000 mile nonstop transcontinental bike race..." and so on.
In one part he's talking about early risers...
"Hard workers who get up at 5AM every morning (oh, don't I remember my training schedule so painfully well)..."
In another part, which I can't find right now, he actually goes on about how clever he is. Along the lines of "Now, I'm a very intelligent man...."
Shut the fuck up! You're runing your otherwise interesting book!
AhhhhhHH!

*Potatojunkie* · 5th April 2007, 9:59am

Name and shame, Les.

**LesMTS** · 5th April 2007, 10:00am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Potatojunkie

Name and shame, Les.

Michael Shermer.

Hahahaha, on wikipedia it has a photograph of him with the caption "Michael Shermer, cycling enthusiast".

Any other egotist writers out there?

Charlicat · 5th April 2007, 10:06am

I have to stop myself doing that every time I make a one line post on here (Lol! Very witty).

**LesMTS** · 5th April 2007, 10:12am

I might start inserting details of minor, loosely relevant achievements of mine into reports I have to write at work.

Semprini · 5th April 2007, 10:25am

Does Stephen King count because he added himself to the story?

the mullet kid · 9th April 2007, 1:30am

george orwell can be a bit up himself in road to wigan pier. not so bad that it puts me off, but there is a certain air of superiority about it. defo one of my favourite books though

lirazel · 9th April 2007, 1:34am

Everett True, Live Through This "but i'm a better writer than most"

no, no you're not.

Joe Spinebuster · 9th April 2007, 1:38am

Hulk Hogan. Fair play, but.

Hammer · 9th April 2007, 8:24am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Semprini

Does Stephen King count because he added himself to the story?

It wouldn't be so bad if he just added himself as a character, but the fact that he sets himself up as a god annoyed me a bit.

Semprini · 9th April 2007, 8:24am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Spinebuster

Hulk Hogan. Fair play, but.

Wasn't he more of an editor than a writer?

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Hulkster

Well you know something bookerman, in this chapter, I see you've written that Bret Hart will be champion. What I've done, brother, is to change that so Yokozuna beats Bret, and then the Hulkamaniancs go wild as yours truly goes in and wins the belt off him in 30 seconds

**LesMTS** · 9th April 2007, 9:59am

Quote:

Originally Posted by lirazel

Everett True, Live Through This "but i'm a better writer than most"

no, no you're not.

Hahaha! Yeah, Everett True is a twat.

lirazel · 10th April 2007, 5:11pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LesMTS

Hahaha! Yeah, Everett True is a twat.

that book made me want to strangle small animals. in the absence of him being in close proximity, so as to forcibly feed him his own putrid excretion that's masquerading as a collection of paper.

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