In this issue:
\n
\n* DOUBLE CHRISTMAS DELIVERY
\n
\n* GOOD OL’ SCOOPY
\n
\n* PREORDER YOUR VALENTINE NOW
\n
\n* REVIEW: SNOOPY’S GUIDE TO THE WRITING LIFE
\n
\n* HOW BIG IS YOUR BOOK?<\/p>\n
DOUBLE CHRISTMAS DELIVERY<\/p>\n
This year’s two Christmas-themed Peanuts books are now
\nshipping. A PEANUTS CHRISTMAS, a large 192 page hardcover
\nwhich collects Christmas-themed Peanuts strips from the
\nfeature’s entire run, is probably of more interest to
\nmost of you. It can be found at
\n
\n http:\/\/AAUGH.com\/go.htm?0345453514<\/p>\n
Also now shipping is the deluxe version of the kids
\nadaptation of the classic TV special A CHARLIE BROWN
\nCHRISTMAS. This new edition comes with a CD with
\ntunes from the special.
\n
\n http:\/\/AAUGH.com\/go.htm?0689853572
\n
\n……………………………………………………
\n
\nGOOD OL’ SCOOPY<\/p>\n
According to the excerpt on the website for Little Simon,
\nthe publishing imprint putting out the A Charlie Brown
\nChristmas book, the text includes the line:
\n
\n “Everyone laughed at the skinny tee — even Scoopy!”
\n
\nhttp:\/\/simonsays.com\/subs\/excerpt.cfm?isbn=0689853572&areaid=183<\/p>\n
Ah, yes, the scene where all the kids and Scoopy laugh
\nat the Christmas tee… the memories it brings back!
\n(Don’t worry; this is just a website error. It’s not
\nin the book.)<\/p>\n
Maybe they were thinking of Scoopy-Doo…
\n
\n……………………………………………………
\n
\nPREORDER YOUR VALENTINE NOW<\/p>\n
Last newsletter, I wrote that the DVD of BE MY VALENTINE,
\nCHARLIE BROWN was not yet available for preorder. Within
\nhours after my writing that, it was made available for
\npreorder, making me look like a durned fool.<\/p>\n
So yes, you can now preorder that DVD, which includes the
\nadditional animated specials YOU’RE IN LOVE, CHARLIE BROWN
\nand IT’S YOUR FIRST KISS, CHARLIE BROWN here:
\n
\n http:\/\/AAUGH.com\/go.htm?B0000714CP<\/p>\n
Order now, and the disk will ship when it’s released in
\nearly January.
\n
\n……………………………………………………
\n
\nREVIEW: SNOOPY’S GUIDE TO THE WRITING LIFE<\/p>\n
This new book leads off with two introductions about
\nhow Peanuts creator Charles Schulz felt about literature
\nand how he felt inferior to “real” writers. However,
\nthe heart of the book is not about Schulz, it’s about
\nSnoopy. This hardcover with 188 horizontal black and white
\npages mixes reprints of Peanuts strips with short essays
\nby dozens of famous authors responding to individual
\nstrips, giving Snoopy lessons on how to work around common
\nwriting problems.<\/p>\n
This book is intended as a gift for writers, and it makes
\na reasonable one. It is a book that is nice to put on
\nthe coffee table, reading a few strips or an essay
\nor two as the mood grabs you. It really isn’t well suited
\nto being read cover to cover; after a while, many of the
\nwriting strips seem redundant when read in quick repetition.
\nThe writing advice is never too deep, but generally what
\nreaders need is straightforward advice. Most essayists
\nfocus on their own specialty, such as David Michaelis
\n(currently working on a major Schulz biography)
\ndiscussing the attitude you must have to write biographies.
\nHowever, the quality of the advice varies greatly, with
\nsome writers giving nothing more than vague charges to keep
\nthings interesting while others deal in far more concrete
\nadvice. As with any artistic advice, don’t just swallow
\neverything you are told; weigh each piece of advice
\nagainst your own emotional reaction to it.<\/p>\n
The book is designed, but unlike some books the design
\nfeatures don’t interfere with reading the strips,
\nwhich is good news all around. They did make the odd
\ndecision of pulling quotes from each short essay and
\ninserting them as highlights, as you will often see
\nin magazines. However, the “highlight” versions are
\nin text not much larger than the normal version, so
\nthe whole effect of grabbing your attention for an
\ninteresting excerpt is lost.<\/p>\n
So if you’re particularly fond of Snoopy as writer, or
\nif you have writers on your gift list, then this book
\nis worth grabbing. With about 180 strips at a cover
\nprice of just under $20 (although you can order it
\nat a substantial discount at the link below!) it’s not a
\nbargain for those who just want a bunch of strips — better
\nto pick up Peanuts Treasury or Peanuts: The Art Of Charles
\nM. Schulz if that is what you seek.<\/p>\n
Order this book at: http:\/\/AAUGH.com\/go.htm?1582971943
\n
\n……………………………………………………
\n
\nHOW BIG IS YOUR BOOK?<\/p>\n
One of the things that keeps collecting books interesting,
\nlively, frustrating, or confusing, depending on one’s
\nview, is the variations that take what some might consider
\nto be the same books and makes them different books. On
\nmy Peanuts book collectors guide, I’ve tried to cover
\nwhen there are very different books with the same title,
\nor substantial variation in contents (when there’s an
\nabridged version of a book available, for instance.)<\/p>\n
However, I am not (yet) tracking all of the variations
\nthat occur on a book as it’s reprinted over the years. Some
\nare pretty minor, such as changes in price or cover design.
\nOthers are more significant, particularly to someone who
\nis trying to collect a set of something and may end up with
\nbooks that don’t look like much of a set.<\/p>\n
As an example of the latter, I present the following
\npicture, taken of three copies of the same book
\n(Charlie Brown’s All-Stars) from the same publisher
\n(World).
\n
\n http:\/\/AAUGH.com\/archive\/size.jpg<\/p>\n
And if you think the indica is going to help you keep
\nthings straight, think again. Both of the smaller
\nversions of this book are listed as “First Edition”
\non the copyright page, even though they are clearly
\ndifferent editions. I *think* the center version
\nactually came first, as the smaller version’s copyright
\npage includes the info that it is “A Read Aloud And
\nEasy Reading Program Selection”, a claim that did not
\nsurface on the mid-sized version.<\/p>\n
The largest version of this 1966 book was printed in
\n1972, part of a set of oversized versions apparently
\nsold in supermarkets.<\/p>\n
(If you don’t have this book, let me point out that the
\ncharacter at the far left of the cover image is 5, a
\ncharacter whose name was a brief novelty in the strip
\nbut who seemed to show up as a background character
\nfor almost two decades!)<\/p>\n
I am hoping to eventually list all editions and variations
\non the list. At the moment, I’m finally starting to work
\nup a grid that will make it clearer which animated specials
\nare adapted in each line of animation-based books. Life
\nis hectic, however, so no promises that this will be
\navailable soon.
\n
\n……………………………………………………<\/p>\n
Well, that’s all the news for now. As always, there is
\nthe scent of more news coming ’round the corner, so
\nI have my ear to the ground, my shoulder to the wheel,
\nmy nose to the grindstone, and boy do I have trouble
\ngetting to sleep in that position! <\/p>\n
A big thanks to those of you who have been recommending
\nthis newsletter to your friends. Another big thanks
\nto those who go to http:\/\/AAUGH.com and click through
\non a book even when you’re going to order some non-Peanuts
\nitem from Amazon; the extra money helps me keep the site
\naround.<\/p>\n
As always, please send your questions, comments, suggestions,
\ncomplaints, and e-mail address changes to nat@AAUGH.com<\/p>\n
\n–Nat
\n
\n proprietor
\n
\n AAUGH.com\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this issue: * DOUBLE CHRISTMAS DELIVERY * GOOD OL’ SCOOPY * PREORDER YOUR VALENTINE NOW * REVIEW: SNOOPY’S GUIDE TO THE WRITING LIFE * HOW BIG IS YOUR BOOK? DOUBLE CHRISTMAS DELIVERY This year’s two Christmas-themed Peanuts books are now shipping. A PEANUTS CHRISTMAS, a large 192 page hardcover … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaugh.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}