Uncommon Type: Some Stories
by Hanks, Tom
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good+/Very Good+, Not Price Clipped
- ISBN 10
- 0735273839
- ISBN 13
- 9780735273832
- Seller
-
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Toronto, Ontario: Knopf Canada, 2017. Book. Very Good+. Hardcover. Canadian First. First Edition stated on verso of title page; minor wear; otherwise a solid, clean copy with no marking or underlining; collectible condition.
Reviews
On Dec 3 2017, CloggieDownunder said:
Uncommon Type: Some Stories is the first print book by American actor, filmmaker and author, Tom Hanks. This is a collection of seventeen quite diverse stories. They vary not only in subject matter, but also format. Many are straight narrative, but there's also a screen play and a series of newspaper columns from the Tri-Cities Daily News/Herald entitled Our Town Today with Hank Fiset. Hank muses on modern news consumption and production compared with that of fifty years ago; he shares his opinion of New York City; he reminisces on significant moments in his life as punctuated by a typewriter bell; he describes a return to analog by a typewriting evangelista.
Typewriters feature heavily: there's a typewriter on the cover; there's an image of a different model of typewriter at the beginning of each chapter; sometimes, a typewriter is an integral part of the story, sometimes it has a minor role, and sometimes it just gets an incidental mention. Many of the characters are appealing and a particular quartet who reappear twice after their initial tale might be well suited to have their own novel (in fact, one of their stories was published in a separate volume in 2014).
The stories are an ideal length for dipping into, but also interesting and different enough to read without pause. Topics are many and mixed: refugees in the present day (or near future) and from a half a century ago; travel by car and plane as well as time travel, space travel and travel down memory lane; ten pin bowling; surfing; motel accommodation; moving house; the public relations junket; making it on the stage; the heavy toll of wartime service.
Hanks gives the reader laughter and romance, loyal friends, wise words and plots that aren't entirely predictable. It's easy to imagine Hanks himself as the narrator in many of these tales: his voice is really there, even in the print version. This is an outstanding debut, and if Hanks ever tires of Hollywood, he can certainly direct his energies to the keyboard (whether a typewriter or electronic), as more tales of this ilk would definitely be welcome. Very enjoyable.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Hourglass Books (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 021277
- Title
- Uncommon Type: Some Stories
- Author
- Hanks, Tom
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good+
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good+, Not Price Clipped
- Edition
- Canadian First
- ISBN 10
- 0735273839
- ISBN 13
- 9780735273832
- Publisher
- Knopf Canada
- Place of Publication
- Toronto, Ontario
- Date Published
- 2017
- Keywords
- American Fiction
Terms of Sale
Hourglass Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Hourglass Books
Biblio member since 2018
Vancouver, British Columbia
About Hourglass Books
I list a wide range of materials from both modern firsts to antiquarian books.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
- Good+
- A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...