Tom Hanks Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks simply known as Tom Hanks is a renowned American filmmaker and actor. He was born in Concord, California in 1956 and went to high school in Oakland before graduating with a degree in theater from California State University.
He used to spend his summers working and acting at the Shakespeare Festival at the Great Lakes until 1980 when he moved to New York City and dropped out of college. In that very year, he was lucky to get a role on “Bosom Buddie,” the sitcom playing the role of Kip Wilson.
His exposure on the sitcom would result in guest roles in several TV shows including “Family Ties,” “Happy Days,” “The Love Boat,” and “Taxi.”

In 2013, Tom Hanks was voted number 1 in a poll for the 100 most trusted people in America by “Readers Digest.” It is no surprise that he has become one of the most popular stars in Hollywood with big hits such as “Toy Story,” “Big,” “Castaway,” and “Forrest Gump.”
His charisma and accessibility have earned him comparisons with legends of the screen such as Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart.

Following his acting stints in several movies and TV shows, he got his biggest breakthrough when he acted in Ron Howard’s “Splash” in 1984. Tom Hanks then teamed up with Howard and they would work on several other projects including “Angels & Demons,” “The Da Vinci Code,” and “Apollo 13.”

In 1988, he was cast in “Big” and his performance garnered him a Best Actor Academy Award nomination. This would cement his reputation as one of the biggest talents in Holywood.

However, it was his performance as a lawyer let go from his high-paying job in a Philadelphia law firm for having AIDS that would ultimately win him the Best Actor Academy Award. Hanks followed that with a phenomenal performance in the movie “Forrest Gump,” which won him an Oscar for two years running.

Over the many years, he has been acting, he has had unforgettable roles whether he is playing a washed-out baseball legend portraying Captain Phillips or undergoing a tremendous physical transformation.

Tom Hanks would then go into directing and screenwriting when he made his directorial debut with “That Thing You Do” which was released in 1996.

He wrote, acted, directed, and produced “From the Earth to the Moon,” the HBO miniseries that won an Emmy Award. An interesting thing is that Tom has said that directing is not an instinctive talent but rather something that he picked up watching top directors.
Over the years, he forged a relationship with director extraordinaire Steven Spielberg when he acted in Saving Private Ryan which was directed by the latter. They would then work together on “The Terminal” and “Catch Me If You Can” in addition to “Band of Brothers,” the miniseries and its companion series “The Pacific.”

When Spielberg was receiving his Life Achievement Award from AFI, he credited Hanks’s hard work and talent in film. In addition, he said his greatest contribution has to be the fact that he tends to instill hope in everyone that even ordinary people have a voice and that there is hope for a better world.

Over the many years that Tom Hanks has been working as a director, producer, and actor, he has earned many accolades. He earned a Lifetime Achievement from the American Film Institute and got a nomination for the Tony Award for the film “Lucky Guy.”
However, Tom Hanks has also had many achievements beyond film as he was the winner of the Douglas S. Morrow Award. This is an annual award by the Space Foundation that is granted to organizations or individuals that have brought awareness to space programs.
The United States Army Rangers inducted Hanks into the Hall of fame which was a first for any actor. Tom has also served as a World War II Memorial Campaign national spokesperson and was a D-Day Museum Capital Campaign honorary chairperson.
Hanks published his first novel “The Making of Another Major motion Picture Master Piece” in 2023.

Tom Hanks’s debut novel follows the making of a multi-million dollar and star-studded superhero action film.

It also looks into the inspiration of the film from the humble comic books from which it was spun. The thought-provoking, touching, and funny novel captures the changes in the United States and in American culture since the end of the Second World War.

The first part of the story is set in 1947 and chronicles the times of a troubled soldier coming back from war to meet his five-year-old nephew. He is a talented boy who leaves quite an impression before he goes missing and is not heard from for over two decades.
Fast forward to 1970 and the nephew is a young man who works as a writer of underground comic books in Oakland California. Reconnecting with his uncle, he draws a version of the comic offered to him when he was young this time with his uncle as the hero fighting in World War II.

In the present day, his 1970 comic is found by a commercially successful director who intends to turn it into a modern superhero film. The cast includes a difficult male star the gofer production assistant, the leading lady, the producer, and the eccentric director and writer.

“Alan Bean Plus Four” by Tom Hanks is a collection of more than seventeen short fiction pieces that prove the talent of Tom Hanks as a writer.

An immigrant from Eastern Europe arrives in New York after his life and family are torn apart by civil war in his country.

There is a man that loves to bowl who gets a perfect score and then just cannot stop winning until he becomes the newest celebrity on ESPN. He will now need to decide if the combination of celebrity and perfection has ruined the thing he loves most.
There is the story of the slightly bizarre billionaire and the loyal executive assistant who go into the United States on business. There they find a motel on the decline, romance, and some real life away from the hustle and bustle of work.
These are just a few of the stories he tells making for a heartwarming, intelligent, and surprising collection. They run the gamut from heartrending to touching to funny in what is a nod to Hanks’s prowess as a writer.