Characters Reading: Robert Nash (9-1-1)

In the 9-1-1 episode What's Your Grievance (season 4 episode 4), Robert "Bobby" Nash was in his backyard reading Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks. I'm always surprised when characters in shows and movies are shown reading a real book instead of a prop one. Anyway, Bobby took a reading break to talk to his stepdaughter May Grant who was in need of a little advice. Earlier in the episode, May who at the time was a 911 dispatch operator in training, was on an emergency call when she overheard a woman getting shot then falling into her pool. Bobby and the rest of his firefighter team were at that emergency call to the late woman's home.

May needed some advice about how to let go of the job at the end of the day. And with stressful jobs like theirs as first responders, you need a way to not take the job home with you. Anyway, back to Bobby's book, I didn't realize that the actor Tom Hanks had wrote books and Uncommon Type: Some Stories is a fictional story that seem interesting. The story centered on various characters but I'm interested in knowing why a typewriter is connected to them. Below, I included the book and description.

(9-1-1 season 4 episode 4: What's Your Grievance)

Book: Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks

Description:

A small-town newspaper columnist with old-fashioned views of the modern world. A World War II veteran grappling with his emotional and physical scars. A second-rate actor plunged into sudden stardom and a whirlwind press junket. Four friends traveling to the moon in a rocketship built in the backyard. These are just some of the stories that Tom Hanks captures in his first work of fiction.

The stories are linked by one thing: in each of them, a typewriter plays a part, sometimes minor, sometimes central.

To many, typewriters represent a level of craftsmanship, beauty, and individuality that is harder and harder to find in the modern world. In these stories, Hanks gracefully reaches that typewriter-worthy level. By turns whimsical, witty, and moving, Uncommon Type establishes him as a welcome and wonderful new voice in contemporary fiction.