Tuesday, April 24, 2018

'Uncommon Type' by Tom Hanks

We all know some actors and singers dabble in the publishing arena just to say that they got themselves published and out onto the shelves of a bookstore at least once in their lives. Some make it big as they step from being in the limelight to being in the gently-glowing screen of their computers at home - which is less public and more introspective.

The fame which comes to a write is much different than the fame of being an actor or singer. Until you step from one to the other, you can't tell the difference... and until you've made a successful switch from one to the other, you won't know it either.

Tom Hanks has been a household name for over twenty years - and is one of my all-time favourite actors. From 'Big' to 'Sleepless In Seattle' to 'Forrest Gump', 'Castaway' and 'The Terminal' as well as 'Toy Story' (all of them), he has been a constant in my life as I grew up. I actually remember when I turned 18, one of my friends gave me the book 'Big' with Tom Hanks on the cover and I read that book; even though I'd seen the film already - and yet, I enjoyed the film better. 

However, when I watched a documentary about Tom Hanks and his amazing life - and his wonderful collection of typewriters - a few years ago, he mentioned he was working on writing a book. He didn't mention what his book was about, but he did say it was something he had always wanted to do in his life. The interviewer probed more, but Tom didn't let on anything more about his book - like any good writer, you keep all the goodies to yourself. 

Anyway, that was a few years go, and it was in March this year, that I found this wonderful book in QBD at Garden City for a good price. My Mum thought I was crazy to buy it as it was... but I knew it had been in the pipeline at some point, but didn't know when it was coming out.

And I'm here to tell you that the wait was well worth it! Tom can write a great story! He can jump genres too! I'm so happy to say that this book was well worth the wait from when he mentioned it during an interview a few years ago, until now (and let's face it, the best things are usually worth the wait, aren't they?). 
He can write some wonderful word pictures, scenes where you go back and re-read them and they are just as beautiful, delicious and sweet and fresh as the paper they're written on... and the photographs of typewriters! Oh, yes, he's combined two pleasures of his within his book:  his love of storytelling and his love of typewriters. 

This book,'Uncommon Type' is well worth the purchase as it's brilliantly written, proofread well and I totally enjoyed it! I do look forward to the next book he puts out - if he's working on another one that is. Until my next post, happy reading.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Book Collections of Old

It's amazing when you go through life that you don't think about what will happen to your things when you get old; when you have to sell your house and move into a small place.

My family has a Dutch Grandmother - an Oma - by marriage and she recently turned 99 years young and had to be placed into a nursing home. This meant her house has to be put on the market to pay for her placement there.

Well, her belongings are being split amongst the family. And just last Saturday, I was offered to look through her art books and studio. Yes, Oma was an artist and she collected books, not only for reading and escapism, but also for her artistic pursuits. 

And what a collection of books she has! Just look at this lot; and these ones here too!

I jumped right in and looked at her paintings first. You see, I've often not been able to look at them on my own without family standing by - causing me to feel as though I had a time limit to look at the artwork.

But on Saturday, I could wander around and just enjoy looking and becoming a part of the work and looking through all of Oma's books - art books or not - and know I didn't have somebody watching me the whole time. 

The sad part was that as I looked through the books, I realised this was the remains of somebody's life. It kinda made me feel awful that a lovely elderly lady was in a nursing home while her home for so many years where so many family dinners, so many years of love and enjoyment had happened, so many times she had sat and read so many of these books by the fire or by the afternoon sunlight in the Autumn was going to be sold. 

Her books were going to be either given away to family - like her art books to me - or given to a charity. Anything the family didn't want wasn't going to be kept. But the books of her collection really interested me; what she read wasn't organised; it was piled up in a chair in the art studio and not looked after. But the art books were organised in a bookcase, well-looked after and, I could tell, used on a regular basis.

So, have you come across books like this in your travels? Books from an older person who you've known in your life or from a bookstore where you know it had a prior life as an active part of somebody else's life; and now it was handed off or sent off like it didn't matter? Until my next post, happy reading.

Monday, April 2, 2018

Short Reads or Long?

As much as I love to collect books, I also enjoy reading them - I mean, why collect them if you're not gonna read them, right?

Well, I haven't read that many books this year, and that's due to me looking into editing some of my written work and organising them into book form - which takes time. Also, I'm at art school too; and that's taking up a lot of time as well.

So, in between painting and editing and decluttering my home, I'm reading as much as I can before bed - the only time I get to get my nose into a book. And I've noticed that the only genre I get to read is short stories or novellas. They're great and don't need me to get too involved - as yet. 

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy delving into the huge series of books like 'The Dark Tower' (which I'm up to book 4 of still) and I love to read the odd biography or autobiography. Then there's the classics which are just wonderfully worded to take me into another time and place so far away from this awfully modern world of Kindle, Kobo and computers. 

However, the short stories are just light enough to entertain me, relax me for a good nights' sleep and keep me interested in the right way. Besides, right now, I'm writing Flash Fictions and they're going really well for me. I've found that Chuck Wendig's blog of 'Terrible Minds' is a great place to get wonderful prompts and his books are brilliantly written. Chuck tells it as it is, pulls no punches and takes no hostages - speaking like a writer thinks; which is a rarity.

I've been getting my nose into 'Uncommon Type' by Tom Hanks (yep the actor - what a great guy! I don't know anyone who doesn't like him); and I gotta say, this book is fantastic. He should have been writing before this because of his clean cut way of expressing himself. 
Then, there's 'Dandelion Wine' by Ray Bradbury - which I've been trying to get my nose into for a few years and last year put down somewhere in my house couldn't find it; only to rummage through my books last night and pick it up, blow the dust off it and start it again. I read the first chapter slowly, deliberately, until midnight and then turned out the light... then couldn't sleep because of how Bradbury described the dawning of the first day of Summer. Isn't that always the way?

Well, how is your reading going? I'm going okay with it. I still have books to give away within Australia and books to sort through here in my home office. Otherwise, the book collection is still not dented by my reading listings of what's been read and what's not been read - but then, I'm not worried about keeping count as much as I used to be anymore. To me, a book being read is just a book being read. There's no goals this year. So long I get in and read books that I enjoy that's the main thing isn't it?  Until my next post, happy reading.