James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life

Just received this Kindle book yesterday which I preordered months ago. Patterson has long been my favorite author so I thought “Why not?” This book does not disappoint. As others have said - it’s like sitting down with the man himself and talking for an afternoon. The humor he interjects is dry but not lost on this Catholic girl! I can certainly relate to all of the stories from his youth being raised in a Catholic household. Highly recommend this book to any Patterson fan. And as the priest said “Who doesn’t like Elvis Presley?”

James Patterson is the world’s most prodigious author with over THREE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FIVE-MILLION-BOOKS-SOLD WORLDWIDE! I used to read his so-called “beach-reads” one after another… but a number of years ago… I will charitably say… I outgrew them and gave them up cold-turkey. But I tried some of his non-fiction work (such as “WALK IN MY COMBAT BOOTS” which totally consumed my emotions tied to my personal experience… my review of that book is still the highest rated review out of over 5,000 reviews posted!) and enjoyed them. So… based on those experiences I purchased this book. Patterson’s life story is delivered to the reader… not in what I would call chapters… but what would be much more accurately described as “snippets”. The “snippets are approximately 1-4 pages in length. The dissertations are quick (as he said they would be… in a brief preamble by the author) and effectively hit the bull’s-eye of varied human emotions. Some make you laugh… some brings a mist to your eyes… some are simply educational on many fronts… some hit multiple targets. From his early days in Newburgh, New York… he covers his childhood and unflinching descriptions… frailties… positives and negatives of his family… and Catholic School… and a burst of athletic pride over half-a-century later. And treating the reader like a friend or acquaintance… swears it’s true. Wanting your imaginary “wink-wink” acknowledgement of authenticity… before he spurts forward to the next biographical “snippet”. His almost lifelong love of writing… is pretty amazing… if you correctly clear your head of the accomplishments he’s world famous for now. The blind dedicated dream he kept alive while working totally unrelated jobs. It’s almost shocking what he accomplished in the “BIG-LEAGUE-MAD-MEN-ADVERTISING-WORLD-JUNGLE” at heavyweight ad agency J. Walter Thompson. While handling high pressure high dollar accounts such as Burger King (during the height of the “BURGER WARS”) and Ford Motor Company. Despite the stress and hours during those times… he had the self-imposed discipline… and an eye still on his ultimate dream of writing… and would write before work… during some skipped lunches… and in the middle of the night. The normal weak human frailty… that I admit I have at times and millions of other people have… though they may not admit it… is some form of jealousy… or believing it was “luck” when you view super-super-successful people like James Patterson… but that is no longer the case with me… because I now know he absolutely earned every ounce of success he has. He literally refused to ever let his lifelong dream die. And though ultra-successful in the game of true **MAD-MEN**… he refused to stop juggling his dream while he survived and flourished day to day! Embedded within the biographical story telling are some great zinging intelligent one -liners. Such as when a...

I don't usually read autobiographies but this one I did and I'm real glad I did! I read it in three days; couldn't put it down. I have always liked James Patterson's books; love the Women's Murder Club series, but this book really is precious. I really did enjoy it and it gave me many laughs along the way. I like this man now; didn't dislike him before, but didn't really appreciate how many books he whips out. He's an amazing human being; sounds like a really good human being and I like the sense of humor he has and the fact that he cares so much about children reading. The world needs more people like James Patterson. I also liked the fact that I've read more than half of the same books he has in the past. Read this book, you won't be sorry! I've already turned some friends and family on to it!

After reading so many of his books, I was curious to understand what obsession drives a person to write stories at such a prodigious pace. Writing nearly every single day. After reading Jim's autobiography you get the sense that when he takes his last dying breadth it will be with a pencil in his hand writing the final words of his last novel. My conclusion is he just loves telling stories, and also something John Updike once said, "The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers, and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all."

Mr. Patterson has been my favorite writer since I read Along Came A Spider, yet it seems that I knew almost nothing about him. The stories he tells in this book are great. He could rewrite the phone book and turn it into a bestseller. If you're debating about buying this book, don't hesitate. I don't think you'll regret it. I especially like that he wants to get kids reading. Books can take you anywhere you want to go. Thank you, Mr. Patterson, for years of great books. Keep them coming. Especially Alex Cross.