Friday, August 12, 2022

Friday Fun - James Patterson memoir


 He's everywhere on bookshelves. He's written with a lot of people.  The Stories of my Life: James Patterson by James Patterson is a very quick, humorous read, and quite interesting. 

I did not know that he was big time in the advertising world during the "Mad Men" era. He wrote the tag line, "I'm a Toys R Us kid."

from the cover blurb - He worked at a mental hospital, where he met the singer  James Taylor and the poet  Robert Lowell. 

He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off  to  fight at a party. 

Dolly Parton sang Happy Birthday to him over the phone

The man has a  lot of stories  to tell. Just the  author  talks with President Clinton make for good fodder. This memoir has lots of one to two page anecdotes covering a bit of childhood, a lot on advertising, plenty of name dropping incidents, and writing, writing, writing. He writes of his  two loves - his first wife, Jane, who died and his second wife Sue who "puts up with him". 

At least on paper, James Patterson appreciates his life and has a sense of humor about his writing life. He writes as if he is talking to you, and I was glad I got this book from our local  library. 

2 comments:

  1. Hi Joanne - I'll get it out of the library ... it sounds an interesting read and will give creative ideas ... fascinating - thank you ... cheers Hilary

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    1. It’s a super quick read and humorous. He is prolific

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