What readers think of Uncommon Type, plus links to write your own review.

What a fun book! Lovable Tom Hanks delivers several entertaining stories in his quintessential jovial manner. Reading Mr. Hanks' fictional works takes you on a truly enjoyable ride through his quirky (or should I say QWERTY) imagination. Hope this is not the last that we are reading from author, actor and all-round great guy, Tom Hanks.

Tom Hanks can do it all. OK, come to think of it, I have never heard him sing. While we all know the two-time Oscar winner can act, now we know he can also write fiction. And write it really well. This eclectic collection of 17 highly original and wildly imaginative short stories proves that.

Each of these stories is so different from the others that readers who are not paying attention could actually think they were written by different authors. But there is one unlikely thread tying them all together—be it on a highly emotional Christmas Eve in 1953 to a futuristic time travel story: typewriters. Yeah, those old machines with ribbons and keys and carriage returns. Occasionally, the typewriter is the star of the story, but most often, it's just a passing reference and one that would be easy to miss if you aren't paying attention.

Deftly written with wit and intelligence, this book of stories is a true delight.

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.

It had been a long time since I read anyone's collection of short stories. I didn't have any expectations of this book, nor did I read any reviews prior, other than the ones printed on the book jacket. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed all the stories (well, except maybe the bowling one). Some stories took me back in time, forward to the future, and remained in the present. I laughed, pondered, and was touched differently by each of them. I found it amazing how a single object, the typewriter, inspired Mr. Hanks to create such interesting tales. Well done.