Cheer up, Morrissey fans in America! His memoir is coming Dec. 3

Morrissey fans of America, fear not: The British music icon’s big new memoir will be landing on American shores in time for Christmas.

“Autobiography,� as Morrissey succinctly titled it, will be published in hardcover on Dec. 3 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, with a Penguin Classic paperback to follow. The release of the long-anticipated book was nearly canceled earlier this year — apparently in a dispute over whether it would be released as a Penguin Classic. It was finally released in the United Kingdom on Oct. 17.

“In the UK ‘Autobiography’ is currently No. 1 on the book charts and has become the fastest-selling music memoir of all time, overtaking the record previously held by Keith Richards’ ‘Life’,� G.P. Putnam said in a release. “Few artists have had the kind of creative staying power as Morrissey, and we are thrilled to be his American publisher.�

In Europe, Morrissey’s first book signing was not in the UK, but rather in Sweden. Some fans stood in line for more than 30 hours outside a bookstore in Gothenburg, in what was billed as his only appearance to launch his autobiography in Europe, the Guardian reported.

“It was a dream come true. He has been the soundtrack to my life,� David Lewin, 35, told the Guardian through tears after Morrissey signed his arm — and also three copies of “Autobiography.�

Reviews of “Autobiography� have been mixed, however.

Neil McCormick’s review in the Telegraph read like a bit like a Morrissey song. The singer writes “in a beautifully measured prose style that combines a lilting, poetic turn of phrase and an acute quality of observation, reveling in a kind of morbid glee at life’s injustices with arch, understated humour, a laughter that is a shadow away from depression or anger,� McCormick said.

But Jessica Winter wrote in Slate that large chunks of ‘Autobiography’ were badly in need of an edit, with writing that was “bitter and self-serving� in critical passages, and “at times so relentlessly whiny and misanthropic that it’s startling when Morrissey shares a flash of sober self-awareness.�

[email protected]

ALSO:

Lou Reed’s rock’n’roll poetry

J.J. Abrams on his secret novel ‘S.’

‘Torment Saint’ illuminates the troubled world of Elliott Smith