Publisher's Synopsis
"It's quite a life, Patterson's, and this fizzing, funny, often deeply moving memoir is a perfect way to understand the dizzying world of a best-selling writer." -Daily Mail
"Damn near addictive. I loved it . . . that Patterson guy can write!" -Ron Howard
THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER-How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world?
- On the morning he was born, he nearly died.
- His dad grew up in the Pogey- the Newburgh, New York, poorhouse.
- He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the poet Robert Lowell.
- While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line "I'm a Toys 'R' Us Kid."
- He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party.
- He's only been in love twice. Both times are amazing.
- Dolly Parton once sang "Happy Birthday" to James over the phone. She calls him J.J., for Jimmy James.
