Hanks, Tom – The Bell Bookshop

The making of another major motion picture masterpiece

Emma — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

‘A proper literary belter’ THE TIMES
‘Affectionate and endlessly entertaining’ RICHARD OSMAN

A wildly ambitious story of the making of a colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film, and the humble comic book that inspired it all.

Spanning eighty years and culminating in the opening of a film, we meet a cast of characters including a troubled soldier, a young boy with an artistic gift, an inspired and eccentric director, a pompous film star on the rise, a tireless production assistant and countless film crew members who together create Hollywood magic.

Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece offers an insider’s take on the momentous efforts it takes to make a film. At once a reflection on America’s past and present, on the world of show business and the real world we all live in.

The making of another major motion picture masterpiece

Emma — Tue, 09 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

‘A stunning, emotionally satisfying tale about the art of storytelling. I never wanted the lights to come up. I could not put it down’ GRAHAM NORTON

‘It’s its own universe, complete with a sun, a cast of circling planets, and a limitless number of stars. Its gravity pulls you in and its far reaching, multi-layered, rollicking exuberance holds you in place. I would have been happy to live inside this book forever’ ANN PATCHETT

A wildly ambitious story of the making of a colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film, and the humble comic book that inspired it all.

Spanning 80 years of a changing America and culminating in the opening of the film, we meet a colourful cast of characters including a troubled soldier returning from war, a young boy with an artistic gift, an inspired and eccentric director, a pompous film star on the rise, a tireless production assistant and countless film crew members that together create Hollywood magic.

Praise for Tom Hanks:

‘Authentically geniune . . . a Writer with a capital W.’ Stephen Fry
‘Hanks’s prose is impressive . . . fluent, convincing and confident.’ The Times
‘Tom Hanks is a wise and hilarious writer with an endlessly surprising mind.’ Steve Martin

Uncommon Type: Some Stories

Emma — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

A collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor. A hectic, funny sexual affair between two best friends. A World War II veteran dealing with his emotional and physical scars. A second-rate actor plunged into sudden stardom and a whirlwind press junket. A small-town newspaper columnist with old-fashioned views of the modern world. A woman adjusting to life in a new neighbourhood after her divorce. Four friends going to the moon and back in a rocket ship constructed in the backyard. A teenage surfer stumbling into his father's secret life. These are just some of the people and situations that Tom Hanks explores in his first work of fiction, a collection of stories that dissects, with great affection, humour and insight, the human condition and all its foibles.