# ugly writers - chuck klosterman **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103 "2005-07-19T04:48:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![itup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b38774/32.png) [@itup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/itup)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/1 "2005-07-19T04:48:01Z")
i get really turned off by ugly authors in the book jackets of fictional novels but i tend to think that uglier the writer is… funnier the read may be. a good example would be chuck klosterman. anyone disagree? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/2 "2005-07-19T04:51:08Z")
I like his stuff and don’t find him particularly attractive - but then again, I’m a guy… ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/3 "2005-07-19T04:56:05Z")
I’m only responding to this because it’s about Chuck and I only heard of Chuck because of the SDMB. In one of his books, Chuck Klosterman brags about his chick-getting abilities that are totally based on cleverness and the ability to bullshit women so that makes him extra ugly to me. That guy is ugly. Ugly but funny. Dime a dozen! Get some contacts and a tan, mister! I know a lot of people believe you have to be ugly to be funny but I don’t agree with it because I am both funny and quite striking. I mean it. Ugly people aren’t the world’s funniest. They think they are but they aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/4 "2005-07-19T05:13:46Z")
> [@](#): > > In one of his books, Chuck Klosterman brags about his chick-getting abilities that are totally based on cleverness and the ability to bullshit women so that makes him extra ugly to me. How is he any worse than the girls who jump into bed with anyone who can lay down a smooth line of talk? Sleaziness is a two-way street. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/5 "2005-07-19T05:16:38Z")
He’s not worse. If I see any of those girls on a dust jacket I am totally going to insult them in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/6 "2005-07-19T05:20:31Z")
What an author looks like makes absolutely no difference to whether or not I enjoy their writing. ---
**Author:** ![itup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b38774/32.png) [@itup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/itup)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/7 "2005-07-26T04:25:37Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > What an author looks like makes absolutely no difference to whether or not I enjoy their writing. well then u can enjoy his writing without enjoying his ugliness. i prefer to enjoy both. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/8 "2005-07-26T11:50:14Z")
There’s no correlation between what an author looks like and how good a writer he is. It’s preposterous to even speculate about it. Especially authors of “fictional novels.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![itup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b38774/32.png) [@itup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/itup)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/9 "2005-08-02T01:02:25Z")
for the record, he writes nonfiction. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/10 "2005-08-02T03:02:30Z")
**itup** , your theory holds well with [Charles Bukowski](http://www.helnwein.org/werke/photo/group4/image984.html). He also had ugly attitudes about women, but, in addition to being gifted with an ability to do the hilarious and absurd, could manage breathtakingly beautiful as well. I think [Stephen King](http://www.pegasus.ee/imgBooks/author_king_small.jpg) is as ugly as homemade sin, too, and he makes me giggle. More than one woman has opined to me that they actually find him sexy, though. I don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/11 "2005-08-02T03:20:30Z")
I agree with **Savannah** : I’ve never noticed a correlation between an author’s perceived attractiveness and how much I enjoy his/her books. I recently finished reading Klosterman’s _Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs_: I think he’s cute, and the book had some good moments (I’m sure that someday I’ll want to reference his essay on soccer), but by the end I felt like I’d just spent an entire party talking to someone who is amused by their own cleverness. His style actually started to get on my nerves. I’ll agree that Bukowski is one ugly sonova, but I like his stuff. More than Klosterman’s. I’m ambivalent about Stephen King’s looks, but I like him as a writer. Anne Rice is scary-looking, but I love her stuff (vampires, witches, erotica … it’s all good!). Two authors I think are attractive _and_ good writers are Dean Koontz (before the makeover) and David Baldacci. Then there’s Clive Cussler: not my type, but I adore his Dirk Pitt series! And so on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/12 "2005-08-02T12:03:10Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > **itup** , your theory holds well with [Charles Bukowski](http://www.helnwein.org/werke/photo/group4/image984.html). Holy fuck. That link needed some kind of warning! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/13 "2005-08-02T13:40:30Z")
Garrison Keillor ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/14 "2005-08-02T15:30:04Z")
Counterexamples: [Terry Pratchett](http://home.egge.net/~savory/terry_pratchett.jpg) [Christopher Moore](http://trashotron.com/agony/images/2003/03-news/12-22-03/christopher_moore.jpg) [Jasper fforde](http://www.bookwormslair.de/p_fforde.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/15 "2005-08-02T16:42:20Z")
Am I the only one who thinks [Chuck Klosterman](http://www.gothamist.com/interview/interview/images/klosterman_large.jpg) looks like [Teddy Duchamp](http://www.river-phoenix.org/filmography/standbyme/teddy-duchamp.jpg) as played by Corey Feldman in the movie _Stand By Me_? ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/16 "2005-08-02T16:57:47Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > Am I the only one who thinks [Chuck Klosterman](http://www.gothamist.com/interview/interview/images/klosterman_large.jpg) looks like [Teddy Duchamp](http://www.river-phoenix.org/filmography/standbyme/teddy-duchamp.jpg) as played by Corey Feldman in the movie _Stand By Me_? THANK YOU! I’ve been trying to remember who he reminded me of for over a month now! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-writers-chuck-klosterman/313103/17 "2005-08-02T17:16:00Z")
Never having heard of him, I did a google image search to see what he looked like. The [first picture](http://images.google.ca/images?q=chuck%20klosterman&hl=en&hs=32e&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi) kind of surprised me. thwartme