Richard's review from Dear Reader: 

The quality of passion is a defining and well-known trait of Pat Conroy.  His writing is built upon passion, and to meet Pat Conroy or see him is to encounter instantly his fierce blue eyes and enthusiastic, exlamatory ideas and opinions.  His greatest passion is for reading, and My Reading Life is built upon his personal influences, inseparable from his literary influences: people—his mother, who led him to an appreciation for art; a librarian; his English teacher, Eugene Norris (who accompanied Mr. Conroy in an unforgettable Book Conference appearance in 1995); Norman Berg, a book sales rep for whom “the world of books was a sacred grove”; books—Gone With the Wind, an “Iliad with a Southern accent”; writers—Thomas Wolfe, Tolstoy and James Dickey, the latter for his “utter mastery of the English language as well as a literary gift as far-reaching and as prodigal as has ever appeared on the American scene”; and places—Atlanta’s Old New York Bookshop, Paris.  My Reading Life is a memoir in the style of Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings, an account that does not claim or seem to intend to be a memoir, but is a personal narrative that focuses upon the important elements of its author’s life.  Like Miss Welty’s book, My Reading Life arrives after a successful career as a writer has been achieved and does not seek to claim itself as an important part of the writer’s work—more like lagniappe.  In spite of its brevity and seemingly modest intent, however, this simple, honest book about the pure joy of books and reading realizes a fine importance and gives its fellow reader delight.  Don’t miss the opportunity to encounter the passion of Pat Conroy when he comes to Square Books.  RH