I enjoy read a good biography of an interesting person. Sometimes it can be someone that I might never had thought I'd want to know anything about, but once reading their life story they become interesting. I enjoy reading about people in all walks of life, from science to music to just about anything if the biography can make the person come to life. There are three new ones that I think I'm going to have to buy.
The first one is Meanwhile...The Life of Milton Caniff. This is probably the least known of the three I'm going to mention today. Sixty years ago the name of Milton Caniff was a lot better known. Mr. Caniff is the creator of the comic strip Terry and the Pirates and later Steve Canyon. The former is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, adventure comic strip ever created. The latter would rank pretty high on the list also. On a personal note: one of the first pieces of writing I ever had published was a review in a comic book related magazine. The review was of a book collecting Steve Canyon comic strips. Of course it was a good review, the strip is too good to be anything less. Imagine my surprise when a few weeks after the magazine and the review came out I received a letter from Mr. Caniff himself, thanking me for the good review. I still have that letter framed and hanging on my wall.
The second biography is also of a comic strip creator, but this one is a little better known. Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts. Now this is perhaps the most well known comic strip in the world. Who hasn't heard of Charlie Brown or Snoopy? This book isn't out yet, it ships next Tuesday. I've been reading that the family of Mr. Schulz is a little upset with the writer, the creator doesn't come off in too good a light in some regards in the book. The writer of the biography was given complete access to the family and Mr. Schulz's records for the last seven years to write the book. Who's right in this instance, I don't know. Mr. Schulz may not have been a saint, but that doesn't take anything from his creation.
Also just to note, Mr. Schulz's creation Peanuts is being reprinted in beautiful hardbound editions in order of their publication, starting from the first strip and hopefully continuing till they have them all collected. The series is up to the eighth volume so far. It's very interesting to read the early strips that have not been reprinted in over decades, some never, and see the evolution of the characters.
The final book is an auto-biography. The writer is Eric Clapton. This book also ships next week. From what I've read Mr. Clapton pulls no punches in his life story. He tells of his drug and alcohol problems and the worst and the best in his life.
Three books that tell three different but interesting stories.
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