Publication
Grand Central Publishing (2018), 160 pages
Collections
Awards
Michigan Notable Books (2019)
Description
A collection of confessional, hilarious, heartbreaking notes written anonymously on a public typewriter for fans of PostSecret and Other People's Love Letters. When Michael Gustafson and his wife Hilary opened Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they put out a typewriter for anyone to use. They had no idea what to expect. Would people ask metaphysical questions? Write mean things? Pour their souls onto the page? Yes, no, and did they ever. Every day, people of all ages sit down at the public typewriter. Children perch atop grandparents' knees, both sets of hands hovering above the metal keys: I LOVE YOU. Others walk in alone on Friday nights and confess their hopes: I will find someone someday. And some leave funny asides for the next person who sits down: I dislike people, misanthropes, irony, and ellipses ... and lists too. In NOTES FROM A PUBLIC TYPEWRITER Michael and designer Oliver Uberti have combined their favorite notes with essays and photos to create an ode to community and the written word that will surprise, delight, and inspire.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member john.cooper
A collection of comments typed by customers at the Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which makes a typewriter (and paper) available for public use. I confess I wasn’t eager to read it. I’m not a big believer in the wisdom of what used to be called “the man on the street,”
The quotes are pretty good, although many people can’t resist reaching for an aphorism. Kids are always typewriters’ biggest fans, and they make several of the best contributions.
Ultimately, this is a love story to the bookstore and its customers—not to typewriters. The author tells the story of a woman who donated a Hermes 3000 to the store.
“If we put this typewriter out, be warned: It’s a death sentence,” I said. “Once a typewriter goes public, it’s got six months.”
I showed her our beautiful ruins—typewriters maligned by public use. They get knocked over; carriages malfunction; hammers bend. Many customers type too fast. The keys jam. In an attempt to fix those keys, a type-bar link detaches….I know all public typewriters will break eventually. When they do, we set some in our store window overlooking the sidewalk. The Boulevard of Broken Typewriters. It’s a nice view, at least.
There are stories interspersed with the typed bits: of how the typewriters connected a local street character with a seven-year-old boy, of a typewritten marriage proposal, of ghosts in the bookstore. They’re pretty good. It’s a testament to the author’s character that stories are about people in all their quirkiness and not about his own taste and wit.
There are several photos of a beautiful Rheinmetall machine, a make I have yet to see in person. In one of the photos, a customer has typed:
fart fart fa rt fa rt fart fart fart
My instincts about people are confirmed after all.
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regardless of sex, and there are so many ways a book like this could go wrong, starting with cloying sentimentality and moving on to cutesiness, bad jokes, and unrecognized quotations mistaken for original wisdom when neither. But I’m a typewriter enthusiast, and fortunately, I was surprised. The bookstore owners are smart people and attract interesting patrons. The bookstore logo is a typewriter, and people bring them typewriters, and after a while they hired an artist to cover an exterior wall with the writing they’ve collected.The quotes are pretty good, although many people can’t resist reaching for an aphorism. Kids are always typewriters’ biggest fans, and they make several of the best contributions.
Ultimately, this is a love story to the bookstore and its customers—not to typewriters. The author tells the story of a woman who donated a Hermes 3000 to the store.
“If we put this typewriter out, be warned: It’s a death sentence,” I said. “Once a typewriter goes public, it’s got six months.”
I showed her our beautiful ruins—typewriters maligned by public use. They get knocked over; carriages malfunction; hammers bend. Many customers type too fast. The keys jam. In an attempt to fix those keys, a type-bar link detaches….I know all public typewriters will break eventually. When they do, we set some in our store window overlooking the sidewalk. The Boulevard of Broken Typewriters. It’s a nice view, at least.
There are stories interspersed with the typed bits: of how the typewriters connected a local street character with a seven-year-old boy, of a typewritten marriage proposal, of ghosts in the bookstore. They’re pretty good. It’s a testament to the author’s character that stories are about people in all their quirkiness and not about his own taste and wit.
There are several photos of a beautiful Rheinmetall machine, a make I have yet to see in person. In one of the photos, a customer has typed:
fart fart fa rt fa rt fart fart fart
My instincts about people are confirmed after all.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Twink
Notes From a Public Typewriter, edited by Michael Gustafson and Oliver Uberti, releases on March 27/18 - and I have a copy of this delightful book to giveaway to one lucky reader, courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.
Notes is a collection of missives left in the typewriter at Gustafson's business -
When Gustafson opened his store in 2013, he included a typewriter as a community building experiment.
"What if people could walk into a bookstore and type anything they wanted? Would they write Haikus, confessions, or declarations of love?Would they contemplate the meaning of life? Would they make fart jokes? Would people even know how to use a typwriter?"
The answer is yes to all of the above. Notes From a Public Typewriter is a collection of those thoughts, desires, confessions, hopes, dreams and more. The notes range from heartbreaking to joyful with some laughs mixed in. There are many poignant entries, connection made and lost. All left anonymously. And it's impossible to put down. I read each entry and imagined who would have wrote it? Why they wrote it? Did things change in their lives?
Here's a sampling:
"So much more effort. And no delete key. Kind of how life used to be.."
"Why does this thing have a hashtag symbol? They didn't have Twitter then #weird"
"Sometimes I get lost just to assure myself someone cares enough to find me."
Gustafson includes his own thoughts in short essays throughout the book. I like his voice and ideas. And to those who live in Ann Arbor, lucky you - this sounds like a wonderful bookstore - and more.
Notes From a Public Typewriter is a slim volume at just over 150 pages. But, there is lots of food for thought between the covers. What do you think you would type?
Fans of PostSecret and Found would enjoy this book.
Notes is a collection of missives left in the typewriter at Gustafson's business -
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The Literati Bookstore - an indie bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan.When Gustafson opened his store in 2013, he included a typewriter as a community building experiment.
"What if people could walk into a bookstore and type anything they wanted? Would they write Haikus, confessions, or declarations of love?Would they contemplate the meaning of life? Would they make fart jokes? Would people even know how to use a typwriter?"
The answer is yes to all of the above. Notes From a Public Typewriter is a collection of those thoughts, desires, confessions, hopes, dreams and more. The notes range from heartbreaking to joyful with some laughs mixed in. There are many poignant entries, connection made and lost. All left anonymously. And it's impossible to put down. I read each entry and imagined who would have wrote it? Why they wrote it? Did things change in their lives?
Here's a sampling:
"So much more effort. And no delete key. Kind of how life used to be.."
"Why does this thing have a hashtag symbol? They didn't have Twitter then #weird"
"Sometimes I get lost just to assure myself someone cares enough to find me."
Gustafson includes his own thoughts in short essays throughout the book. I like his voice and ideas. And to those who live in Ann Arbor, lucky you - this sounds like a wonderful bookstore - and more.
Notes From a Public Typewriter is a slim volume at just over 150 pages. But, there is lots of food for thought between the covers. What do you think you would type?
Fans of PostSecret and Found would enjoy this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Beamis12
Love the premise behind this short, quick but surprisingly meaningful book. Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan , and a typewriter that anyone can use. Notes and messages, thoughts people live behind. I just kept thinking what would I type if no one knew who was typing and leaving the
There is a little more than just these notes though, such as the fate of many Indie bookstores. How he and his wife came to own the shop, and what the building had been in the past. Interesting reading.
These few messages stood out for me.
As a mother this one made me chuckle.
My son thinks that I am a genius because I know how to type.......
Finally he is impressed with me.
Another amusing one that I can imagine many student typing, especially in today's techie world.
If I had to write a five paragraph essay on this thing, I would withdraw from middle school.
I was impressed with his comma usage though.
Last but not least a sentiment many of us share.
Maybe one day we will write enough books and read enough words to understand each other.
I hope.
So many more and such a wonderful way to spend a little time, and to be reminded of the power of words.
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message. Some were funny, some poignant, some celebratory, some surprisingly intimate. There is a little more than just these notes though, such as the fate of many Indie bookstores. How he and his wife came to own the shop, and what the building had been in the past. Interesting reading.
These few messages stood out for me.
As a mother this one made me chuckle.
My son thinks that I am a genius because I know how to type.......
Finally he is impressed with me.
Another amusing one that I can imagine many student typing, especially in today's techie world.
If I had to write a five paragraph essay on this thing, I would withdraw from middle school.
I was impressed with his comma usage though.
Last but not least a sentiment many of us share.
Maybe one day we will write enough books and read enough words to understand each other.
I hope.
So many more and such a wonderful way to spend a little time, and to be reminded of the power of words.
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LibraryThing member Bodagirl
This is a book meant to be devoured and then savored on a second read.
The idea of publishing notes left by anonymous people on typewriters in an independent bookstore is gimmicky, but the way the Gustafson orders the messages and includes his own miniature essays keeps the book just this side of
The idea of publishing notes left by anonymous people on typewriters in an independent bookstore is gimmicky, but the way the Gustafson orders the messages and includes his own miniature essays keeps the book just this side of
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artifice. Show Less
LibraryThing member murderbydeath
When Literati Books opened in Ann Arbor Michigan, the owner put an old typewriter out in the stacks, with a sheet of paper in it, curious about what might happen. In his wildest dreams, he imagined a sort of never ending story, where each patron would pick up where the last one left off; a true
What he got was something totally different and totally special. People wrote some silly stuff, but they also wrote poems, posed philosophical questions, proposed, broke up, and otherwise bared their souls. After several years of collecting the daily contributions, Gustafson was convinced to collect his favourites into what became this book.
Notes from a Public Typewriter is short, I think I read the whole thing in about an hour. It's almost purely a collection of what Gustafson considered the best, the funniest, the most touching. There are photos of the shop and patrons throughout, and every few pages, Gustafson writes a short essay-type piece to introduce context to some of the inclusions.
The 5 stars is because this book, for all its simplicity, moved me. By the end, it was hard to stay dry-eyed, to be honest. I'm sure Gustafson has collected a LOT of dreck over the years, but the simple lines he included here were honest, heart-felt, and sometimes raw.
I don't go looking for books that reveal what goes on beneath the surface, so I'm really no judge, but this one worked for me. What is on the face of it an anonymous, ever changing, mass of humanity going in and out the doors of one shop, is revealed in this short volume to be instead the very definition of a community.
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community built novel. Pragmatically, he figured he'd end up with a lot of nonsense or jokes about bodily functions.What he got was something totally different and totally special. People wrote some silly stuff, but they also wrote poems, posed philosophical questions, proposed, broke up, and otherwise bared their souls. After several years of collecting the daily contributions, Gustafson was convinced to collect his favourites into what became this book.
Notes from a Public Typewriter is short, I think I read the whole thing in about an hour. It's almost purely a collection of what Gustafson considered the best, the funniest, the most touching. There are photos of the shop and patrons throughout, and every few pages, Gustafson writes a short essay-type piece to introduce context to some of the inclusions.
The 5 stars is because this book, for all its simplicity, moved me. By the end, it was hard to stay dry-eyed, to be honest. I'm sure Gustafson has collected a LOT of dreck over the years, but the simple lines he included here were honest, heart-felt, and sometimes raw.
I don't go looking for books that reveal what goes on beneath the surface, so I'm really no judge, but this one worked for me. What is on the face of it an anonymous, ever changing, mass of humanity going in and out the doors of one shop, is revealed in this short volume to be instead the very definition of a community.
Show Less
LibraryThing member octothorp
Wow—lovely. So much to love in here (it’s like a bookstore in that way). I teared up any number of times.
LibraryThing member Fliss88
Just what I needed to boost my 2022 reading challenge, a quick read, and just the sort of book I thoroughly enjoy! Reminded me a little of the PostSecret Project. Here we read a collection of thoughts, hopes and fears written anonymously by customers of a bookstore in Michigan. You could read it in
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a day. I lovingly stretched it out over a week. It’s easy to be open and honest when we know, no-one knows who we are, or is it? Some funny, others will pull at your heart strings. Did I say already how much I love books like this! Show Less
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
1538729113 / 9781538729113
Physical description
160 p.; 5.25 inches
Pages
160