Picked up at Central Union Church Thrift Shop. Collection of short stories with forced theme of a mention of a manual typewriter to unify them. Stories themselves are not bad, but the descriptions of the typewriters sometimes seems forced.

Off as a surprise to perryfran.

Thanks for the surprise! I saw something about this book on one of the network news shows and immediately put it on my wishlist. Looking forward to reading it.

Tom Hanks obviously is multi-talented but I didn't realize his talents extended into the written word. This was a very good selection of stories from Hanks that were for the most part uplifting and joyful. Hanks is a collector of typewriters and these 17 stories are joined together by them; the stories usually contain a mention of typewriters and they are joined together by photos of old typewriters. I really enjoyed most of these with a few exceptions. They range from stories of love and divorce to even a couple of science fiction tales. I especially enjoyed The Past Is Important to Us where a millionaire is able to afford time travel back to 1939 where he visits the 1939 World's fair and meets long lost love. Christmas Eve 1953 was another favorite about a man enjoying Christmas eve with his family until he is called by an old war buddy which brings back the horrors endured during WWII. Then there's Steve Wong Is Perfect about a young man who bowls six perfect games in a row.

I could go on about others in the volume but I'll just say that probably 90% of these were real gems. They reminded me of stories from an earlier age that could have been written by O. Henry or Damon Runyon.

I first heard about this book on the CBS Morning show which interviewed Hanks and his love for typewriters. I put this book on my wishlist at the time and was not disappointed!

This one is off to ReallyBookish in PA...a wishlist tag. Enjoy!

Received safely today. Thanks so much! Looking forward to reading it.