I find it a bit cringeworthy too, to be honest. It was amusing in this book because the author was so clearly in fandom (and pretty intensely so, given the detail and specificity of all the fandom stuff), whereas when it's written in such a way that it's obvious the author is outside of the fannish community and doesn't quite understand it I end up finding it annoying.

I definitely think you'd enjoy Rena Rossner.