James Patterson by James Patterson
The Stories of My Life
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4.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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. How did a boy from small-town New York become the world’s most successful writer? How does he do it? He has always wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and reread so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart. As he says, “I’m still working on that one.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"This is a book of true stories the way I remember them. I'm sure I'll get a few things wrong," suggests the mega-bestselling novelist in this blithe blend of personal asides, fan trivia, and hot takes. The dozens of sections skim the major stages of Patterson's life, including his childhood in Newburgh, N.Y., his early love of reading, his aspirations to become a writer, his time in the advertising industry (where he claims to have coined the slogan "I'm a Toys ‘R' Us Kid"), and his astonishing commercial success as a novelist. As Patterson makes crystal clear, readers in search of a straightforward and detailed autobiography won't find it here ("Robert Caro or Walter Isaacson, I'm not")—but they'll get the lowdown on his first kiss (name, Veronica Tabasco), insights into his craft, and colorful accounts of the many celebrities he's crossed paths with, among them Hugh Jackman and Charlize Theron, both of whom "look amazing in real life. Also, they don't seem full of themselves." Occasionally, Patterson's jocular style feels at odds with his material, as when he glibly weighs in on the U.S.'s systemic problems: "It isn't white, Black, or brown... it's jerks." Still, this uncut look into the famed author's mind is sure to intrigue his many fans—and critics.
