In Uncommon Type, Tom Hanks examines the human condition and all its foibles – and his love of typewriters

Tom Hanks is an American treasure. He's more than just a funny guy who makes great and memorable motion pictures like Apollo 13 and Forrest Gump. Now, the Oscar-winning actor, producer and director has turned to writing – and he's written a pretty decent book, Uncommon Type: Some Stories, about his obsession with typewriters.

Yes, typewriters!

Uncommon Type is a collection of 17 short stories written by Hanks on a variety of his vintage typewriters that examines the human condition and all of its foibles. He writes honestly and sensitively about many different subjects, including: a World War II veteran and his family in "Christmas Eve 1953," a rocket ship constructed in a backyard that takes four friends to the moon and back in "Three Exhausting Weeks," a California surfer kid who stumbles into his father's secret life in "Welcome to Mars," and a small-town newspaper columnist who shares his old-fashioned views while trying to remain relevant in an internet age in "Our Town with Hank Fiset."

In every story, Hanks sneaks in the machine of his obsession – the typewriter. In its review of Uncommon Type, The Guardian of London called his work: "nostalgic, conversational, fusty."

In praise of Uncommon Type, comedian Steve Martin wrote: "It turns out that Tom Hanks is also a wise and hilarious writer with an endlessly surprising mind. Damn it."

Interviewed by NPR Morning Edition host David Greene this week, Hanks admitted that sometimes the typewriter is merely a plot device.

"Sometimes it really does feel almost hidden," said Greene. "And in talking to Hanks, you learn that his thing with typewriters is not a gimmick – more like a love affair."


Here's how Hanks explained his obsession with typewriters:

"There something about it – I don't know, it's a hex in my brain – there is something I find reassuring, comforting, dazzling in that here is a very specific apparatus that is meant to do one thing, and it does it perfectly. And that one thing is to translate the thoughts in your head down to paper. Now that means everything from a shopping list to James Joyce's Ulysses. Short of carving words into stone with a hammer and chisel, not much is more permanent than a paragraph or a sentence or a love letter or a story typed on paper," said Hanks during his NPR Morning Edition interview.

In the current New York Times Book Review, Hanks was asked which short story writers he most admires and what makes for a great short story:

"The Cheever stories, the Vonnegut stories, the Salinger stories (especially those I had to find online, before he became THAT Salinger). Bukowski wrote short stories that were prose poems, yet I read them as the vignettes of life that, to me, rate as full-blown short stories," said Hanks.

I came upon an advance reader's edition of Uncommon Type last June while attending a library conference with my wife in Chicago, which provided me with a chance to read some of these graceful and moving stories that are both funny and whimsical as well as filled with the right touch of melancholy. As others have noted, one of the central qualities of Hanks's writing is its "poignant playfulness." I'm looking forward to seeing Hanks in conversation later this week at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., as part of a national tour in support of his book. Hearing him read aloud from Uncommon Type – a welcome new voice in contemporary short fiction – will be the next best thing to having him sit in my home reading it aloud to me.

Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks is published in the U.S. by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. $26.95.

Photos illustration and Tom Hanks photo: Courtesy of Google Images.

On pop culture: A great design that's always making a fashion statement

The Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneaker

In recent years, the colorful, unisex appeal of Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers has become quite noticeable, especially among teens and young, college-aged adults.

After all, great design never goes out of style. Sometimes, it just gets a little edgy and interactive.

I learned this first hand last week while perusing a Converse Store during a walk along Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, which houses the largest collection of Converse footwear (which includes Chuck Taylor All-Star and their companion sneaker Jack Purcell) and apparel in the world.

Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers have come a long way since their basic black and white styles were once the elite footwear of choice for generations of basketball-playing Americans. Their popularity predates Adidas and Nike. In the 1970s, the iconic American punk rock band The Ramones gave the Converse brand a worldwide counterculture status. Other notables who've worn the Chuck Taylor All-Star brand include Kurt Cobain of grunge rock Nirvana fame and British actor David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, in the BBC television science fiction series Dr. Who.

Today, thanks to their casual appearance and variety of bright and vivid colors, the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers are a "must-have" for a new generation of sneaker wearers. While they are now known more for their vintage fashion appeal than their athletic use, there is still a "wow" factor and a casual sense of coolness attached to them.

At Converse's Third Street Promenade flagship store, you can even design your own creative, one-of-a-kind pair of All-Star kicks in what is billed as Converse Customization. Through the use of iPad technology and over 150 customization graphics, including collaborations with local Santa Monica artists, customers can channel their inner Jackson Pollack or Andy Warhol in expressing their own personal and artistic style -- from abstract expressionist to modern pop art.

The Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers remain a great design, always making a fashion statement.

Photograph of Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013.

Laura Mvula: Singing to the moon with a beautiful heart, soul and voice

On her debut album, Sing to the Moon, the British singer/songwriter Laura Mvula not only taps into the sound of vintage '60s soul, she really stands out in the spotlight.

I learned of Mvula only last month when I heard Morning Becomes Eclectic host Jason Bentley rave about her music, which unconventionally pairs neo-soul with orchestral pop, and her voice, calling her a "revelation."

Soon, thereafter, NPR profiled the chanteuse, noting that her songs "sound like the whole world at once.

"Equally adept at radiating joy ("Like the Morning Dew"), articulating a socially conscious mission statement ("That's Alright"), and singing sweet ballads (the harp-infused "Can't Live With the World"), Mvula radiates the world confidence of a singer twice her age," wrote NPR's Stephen Thompson.

Mvula, 26, grew up in Birmingham, England as "a regular girl" in a musical family. She has two younger siblings who play in her touring band, which includes strings and horns. She is a classically-trained singer, who graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire, and has sung in acapella choirs.

Mvula sings with a voice that is as distinctive as it is different. Think about the first time you heard Adele or Amy Winehouse or, for those of you old enough to remember, Nina Simone. How do I best describe Mvula's fantastic voice? Well, it is breathtakingly amazing ~ there's a neo-soul mentality to it, influenced by Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill ~ and Mvula's gentle-but-powerful song lyrics are heartfelt. And, there are those infectious vocal harmonies found in many of her songs, such as "Like the Morning Dew," the first track on Sing to the Moon, that would do the Beach Boys proud.

Recently, Mvula gave her U.S. radio debut as she performed live on the Morning Becomes Eclectic show, which originates from public radio station KCRW-FM (Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-noon Pacific Time / 4-7 p.m. GMT) in Santa Monica, Calif., and is simulcast worldwide via KCRW.com. For a limited time, KCRW offering a free download of the magnificent "Sing to the Moon."

"I love the version of "Sing to the Moon" that appears on Laura Mvula's debut album, but when I heard her perform it live at KCRW it became an intimate story performed so delicately that it's heartbreaking," KCRW host Anne Litt wrote on the station's website. "During her interview for Morning Becomes Eclectic, she revealed that this song was inspired by an autobiography of a 1950's jazz singer called Adelaide Hall whose father told her to 'sing to the moon, and the stars will shine.' "

Indeed, Sing to the Moon is a celebration of Laura Mvula's beautiful and soulful voice. The stars are shining tonight.

* * * 

Sing to the Moon is currently available digitally via iTunes and Amazon.com, and the CD and vinyl version debuts on May 14.

To see videos from the Sing to the Moon album, go to : http://www.lauramvula.com/video.

Video of "Sing to the Moon" courtesy of KCRW.com.