A very happy birthday to Monte Schulz, whose novel “This Side of Jordan,” makes for very compelling reading. There’s one aspect of Monte’s book that I would compare to a famous comic strip — but not “Peanuts.” Like Chester Gould’s “Dick Tracy” in its heyday, the scenes of violence in “This Side of Jordan” are relatively few, but they’re so sudden, shocking and memorable that you may think the story is more violent than it really is.
Every year for Christmas I get the latest 2-volume box set of “The Complete Peanuts” series. Last year I pointed out that one of the books had a printing defect. It happens to be on the page with the installment of “Peanuts” that was published on Monte’s 18th birthday.
Here’s the box set for Christmas 2009. We also have a new “Peanuts” ornament, but I neglected to take a photo before Carol packed it away.
