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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.
- Growing up, he didn’t love to read. That changed.
- 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.
- Three American presidents have invited him to golf with them.
