Notes From a Public Typewriter - Michael Gustafson - Review AND Giveaway

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 - 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, connections 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. Enter to win a copy using the Rafflecopter form below. Open to US and Canada, no PO boxes please. Ends March 31/18. a Rafflecopter giveaway