Hot dang...the publisher just sent me "Schulz and Peanuts"

[Sequoia]

by David Michaelis

My Christmas is ruined if I don't watch the Christmas special on TV.

[meegbear]

1. Read the reviews for it, sounds great ...

I may pick it up for the upcoming cold winter nites.

[niyad]

2. with you on that!! it is part of my holiday observances.

[Ivan Sputnik]

3. I read an advance copy

Pretty interesting. He WAS Charlie Brown. His first wife WAS Lucy. Peanuts was a lot more autobiographical than most people realized. There are many classic strips included in the book.

[kikiek]

4. I am loving Schultz's book. Alternating reading this with "Shock Doctrine". You can get only

pissed off so much then you gotta lighten it up. I always loved Peanuts, and now I know why. He was a typical kid with all the insecurities real or imagined.

[Sequoia]

5. I'm a bit past halfway through.

What a story! What a sad person he was too. His kids went to the same elementary school as my kid! Sometimes, I get a little sad reading this book and sometimes gleeful, like the Christmas special story. "What, no laugh tracks! But Charles, everybody has laugh tracks."

"The people know when to laugh."

(Something like that)

And the part about Snoopy and the Red Baron...too cool!

[kikiek]

6. The cartoons really illustrate what he was feeling. The whole book is amazing in my opinion.

It sounds like my dads family. Full blooded Swedes and dad was the 1st generation American. He grew up in the tough immigrant no nonsense family that didn't show love or affection. Seems to be common for that generation irregardless of where they came from. Life was tough here in Minnesota, and I suppose it was anywhere you landed. The story of his life is so familiar and really typical. The book has made me realize how lucky I am that dad married late in life and lived long enough to learn to hug and say I love you.

[Sequoia]

7. Yes, it sure is. I just finished it but I wasn't in a hurry.

Last night on PBS American Masters featured him. The gardner didn't seem to think very highly of him. It was too bad Sparky died so quickly and I thought if he dad seen a doctor sooner he would've lived longer, but in the show last night it was said that he hated to go to doctors. Anyway, just a great book that left me feeling sad for him. I'm going to have to go skate at the arena now, haven't been there in a while.

[andelman]

8. "Schulz and Peanuts" interview with biographer

You might enjoy this audio interview with “Schulz and Peanuts” biographer David Michaelis (with transcription): http://www.mrmedia.com/2007/11/david-michaelis-schulz-and-peanuts.html .
Bob Andelman
Author
Will Eisner: A Spirited Life
http://www.aspiritedlife.com/blog/