2022 paperback with 358 pages in very good condition.

"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.