Update December 5, book signing: Pat Conroy is due for a local appearance to sign his newest book. 

On Thursday, December 9, he will be at the Beaufort Bookstore at 3 p.m. 

The store is at 2217 Boundary Street.

First reported September 12: Writing about books that have shaped him and celebrating the effects of reading on his life, Beaufort's favorite author Pat Conroy has a new book "My Reading Life" coming out November 2. 

There's a good 16-minute chat with Conroy at Book Expo America about his life and influences of writing on his life and books on C-SPAN2 that you can watch here. The Post and Courier also has a brief bit about the new book; read it here. 

I also pasted in the book's description below. 

You can pre-order it for $15 at Amazon or support a local bookstore and get it at Beaufort Book Store.

Updated November 2, book out: So Pat Conroy's latest book, "My Reading Life," indeed has been released today.

Since we first reported the imminent release there has been a bit more coverage and a few more reviews. 

Here's what we've found:

• Novelist Lays Bare Love of Language, Literature - from ABCNews.com
• Pat Conroy comes to Memphis with "My Reading Life" - from the Commercial Appeal
• Conroy talks about "Reading Life" and writing life - from the Baltimore Sun

And if you're looking to start reading the new book immediately you of course can download it on your e-reader, or if you order it in the next 9 hours you can have it on your doorstep from Amazon tomorrow.

About the book:

Bestselling author Pat Conroy acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the profound effect reading has had on his life. 

Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is also a vora cious reader. He has for years kept a notebook in which he notes words or phrases, just from a love of language. But read ing for him is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity. 

In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of passionate reading. He includes wonderful anecdotes from his school days, mov ing accounts of how reading pulled him through dark times, and even lists of books that particularly influenced him at vari ous stages of his life, including grammar school, high school, and college. Readers will be enchanted with his ruminations on reading and books, and want to own and share this perfect gift book for the holidays. And, come graduation time, My Reading Life will establish itself as a perennial favorite, as did Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go!