I like Tom Hanks and was delighted to find that he was reading his own book in the audio version. I took me a while, but I started realizing there was an old typewriter in many of the stories so I was assuming Hanks has a thing for old typewriters and then I looked at the title of the book - Uncommon Type - and said "Oh" to myself. I no longer have the book, so guessing at some of the typewriter mentions.
Three Exhausting Weeks - we get introduced to some characters that appear in a couple other stories. Two good friends since high school try dating each other. Not sure where the typewriter came in, maybe as this was sorta being typed up by the narrator.
Christmas Eve 1953 - touching story of a man coming home to his family for Christmas eve and getting an annual phone call from a war buddy.
A Junket in the City of Light - A young actor has a hectic press tour as he plays the love interest of a famous star. He'd get a typed (crazy) itinerary every day.
Our Town Today with Hank Fiset - An Elephant in the Pressroom - The elephant in the room is a huge bolted typewriter used by a classical reporter that even lifted up, so he could continue editing on the desk underneath.
Welcome to Mars - this was a disfunctional father - son story, where the son agrees to go surfing with his dad for his 19th birthday, but it all goes wrong.
A Month on Greene Street - a single woman and her kids move to Greene Street. She is weary of the single male neighbor, who makes his own telescopes and show the neighborhood kids wonders in the sky. He also has things like old typewriters in his garage.
Alan Bean Plus Four - our original cast from the first story figure out a way to orbit the moon - each has his specialty.
Our Town Today with Hank Fiset - At Loose in the Big Apple
Who's Who?
A Special Weekend
These Are the Meditations of My Heart - this was the one story that was completely focused on an old typewriter. A woman buys an old typewriter for $5 but it needs some repair and finds a repair shop that really understands the beauty of manual typewriters, so that she can eventually start writing her "meditations of her heart."
Our Town Today with Hank Fiset - Back From Back in Time
The Past Is Important to Us
Go See Costas - an immigrant story where a Bulgarian gets a job on a ship to cross to America and how he starts making his way. In this story the wife of one of the people that helps our our immigrant is learning to type from a record, so that sound in the background adds an interesting texture to the story.
Our Town Today with Hank Fiset - Your Evangelista Esperanza - a woman sits in a cafe of today with a small portable manual typewriter and types things up for people when they want something that is one of a kind.
Steve Wong is Perfect - we return to the characters from the first story. The narrator, Anna, M-Dash and Steve Wong, who turns out to be a great bowler. I think the only typewriter appears when the narrator helps him find his special bowling ball behind an old typewriter in a closet.
Stay With Us - this is written like a movie script with fade ins and outs. FXR is a rich guy who wants to buy up and develop some forsaken part of the country. He is charmed by the old couple running the Olympia motel that asks us to "Stay with us." I think the only typing in this story is the clicking of the assistant's phone as she texts.
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