James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life

How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world? This "fizzing, funny, often deeply moving" (Daily Mail) #1 New York Times bestselling memoir is “damn near addictive. I loved it . . . that Patterson guy can write!” (Ron Howard)

• 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.