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Autobiographies that turn you off the author

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    Autobiographies that turn you off the author

    There's been a couple;

    Kenney Jones. Let the good times roll

    I picked this up, thinking that Jones,as Small Faces drummer, might give a new insight into the era. What a mistake.

    Jones, as you might expect, has an ego,but he also doesn't really know how to tell a story. A row over money with Roger Daltrey, when he was in The Who, made me take Dalltrey's side easily. He speaks fondly about Ronnie Lane and Keith Moon, but it's the last couple of chapters, when he describes his life as a royalist, fox hunting tory, that really grinds the gears. I finished it with great difficulty.

    Similarly, Dublin Gaelic Football legend Bernard Brogan, who describes his greed is good business life, was a big disappointment.

    Myself and my brother regularly share books. When he read John Cooper Clarke's autobiography, he said " if you want to know about a boring, unpleasant man, go ahead ". I didn't.

    #2
    Burt Bacharach's autobiography was entertaining and occasionally intriguing (though not as fascinating as I had hoped it would be). Bacharach is by no means unlikable, quite the opposite, but the book had the uncomfortable scent of smugness. It didn't turn me off Bacharach, but it certainly didn't make me like him better.

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      #3
      I wasn't much enamoured of Bob Mould after reading See A Little Light. He wasn't kidding about the size of the light.

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        #4
        When I was a very young man I bought the paperback of Geoff Boycott's autobiography, because the shop had some autographed copies and he had not long since retired. I read the whole thing, because it was interesting from an historical and sporting perspective. But other than that it catalogued him falling out with just about everyone involved with Yorkshire and England cricket as his career progressed. Coincidentally, all of them were in the wrong.

        It was also almost completely devoid of humour. This is paraphrasing from memory (I lent it to someone - permanently as it transpired - years ago): "In 1983 I eliminated the hook shot from my game, because I considered it too risky." That's about as gripping as it got.

        By comparison A Lot Of Hard Yakka by the relatively unheralded (as a player) Simon Hughes was absolutely wonderful and thoroughly recommended,

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          #5
          I don't think the author of this review, by all accounts a sunshiney kind of lad not known for acerbic comments, did not warm to Tim Lovejoy after reading the TV presenter's autobiography.

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            #6
            In the course of my duties I've had cause to read the diary of Lothar Mathäus and the autobiography of Steffen Effenberg. I'd no high opinion of either to start with, and their books didn't change that, both following the Boycott literary model. Same with the ref Mark Halsey's self-serving book. It's one thing being a wanker, but being a wanker with so little self-awareness that you sit down and indelibly inscribe your wankerdom into 1000s of print copies for posterity, that's a whole level of wankiness that only a truly devoted wanker can pull off, so to speak.

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              #7
              I didn't warm to Roger Moore after reading My Word Is My Bond. He seemed unduly preoccupied with his image as a good bloke and a fondness for practical jokes is always a bad sign. I accept that this is a minority opinion.

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                #8
                Brian Close, 'I Don't Bruise Easily'. Similar reaction to Sits with Boycott. And this was before he became associated with racist comments about Asian players.

                Peter Hook's New Order memoir has various segments full of misogyny and malice whereas Bernard Sumner was able to write his without those elements.
                Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 06-06-2022, 08:59.

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                  #9
                  Bret Hart: Hitman.

                  It's a fascinating book and a tale of the dying days of territory wrestling, but holy shit is it everyone else's fault. Again, the theme of not being able to take a joke runs through it.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                    Brian Close, 'I Don't Bruise Easily'. Similar reaction to Sits with Boycott. And this was before he became associated with racist comments about Asian players.

                    Peter Hook's New Order memoir has various segments full of misogyny and malice whereas Bernard Sumner was able to write his without those elements.
                    I was going to mention Hooky. He was really horrible about Caroline Ahern, completely dismissive of Gillian Gilbert and not particularly nice about Barney either. Not read Barney's book but Stephen Morris' account of the Joy Division years manages not to be so nasty

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by G-Man View Post
                      I don't think the author of this review, by all accounts a sunshiney kind of lad not known for acerbic comments, did not warm to Tim Lovejoy after reading the TV presenter's autobiography.
                      That is truly one of the most inspiring reviews committed to print though enjoyable and erudite as Taylor hatch job was it is surely unnecessary in context of this thread. Tim Lovejoy didnt even need to write an autobiography to turn you off. He had managed that well before he put pen to paper.

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                        #12
                        True. I just needed an excuse to post the link again.

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                          #13
                          Tony Adam's effort is probably the standout for me. I can't say I had much of an opinion about him before, a decent if limited centre back but his ego ran riot through the pages. A couple of times I had to check I wasn't reading Franz Beckanbauer's autobiography, so sure was Adams of his footballing prowess. The ultimate example was him selecting a team of the best players he'd ever played or faced and putting himself in there!

                          John Simpson struck as me pretentious and full of his own importance. Alan Sugar sounded like Alan Partridge with his meaningless anecdotes that all could have ended with "needless to say I had the last laugh".

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                            Brian Close, 'I Don't Bruise Easily'. Similar reaction to Sits with Boycott. And this was before he became associated with racist comments about Asian players.
                            .
                            You won’t be surprised to know that he’s one of the key adversaries in Boycott’s book.

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