Genre:
American Fiction, Horror, Suspense, Thriller

Summary:
A great white shark terrorizes the small seaside community of Amity in this frightening story of nature gone awry.

When a woman’s body is found half eaten on the shore one morning by police chief Martin Brody, he must decide whether or not to close the beaches. Against his own discretion, and amidst mounting pressure from the mayor and local businesses, Brody re-opens the beaches just as the tourist season is kicking off.

Brody is quick to discover his error. He is soon entrenched in a local scandal and a fevered manhunt for the shark that threatens to destroy Amity.

My Thoughts:
I was surprised when a friend told me that Jaws was in fact a book before it was ever a movie. Written only a year before the release of Jaws the movie (1975), Peter Benchley‘s horror novel soon rose to the top of the bestseller lists, while the film became the highest grossing movie in history up to that point.

Jaws is best described as an oldie but a goody! I was skeptical at first about reading the novel. I thought I already basically knew the plot, but there’s actually a lot more to it than a man eating fish.

Benchley uses the shark as an allegory, subtly suggesting that the shark is in fact an evil, sentient creature sent to Amity to teach its citizens a lesson. Definitely creepy. I’m glad I read this book during the winter when I won’t be planning on going swimming anytime soon!

Borrow Jaws from your local Vaughan Library today!

Full Title:
Tiny Beautiful Things: advice on life and love from Dear Sugar

Genre:
Non-Fiction, Self Help, Mental Health, Psychology, Sociology

Summary:
Life – in its many magnificent, complicated forms – is something to be both marveled and feared.

Under the pseudonym Sugar on a blog called The Rumpus, Strayed brings readers into her loving embrace. In her unabashedly raw advice column, Strayed draws on her own personal experiences, sharing with readers the most intimate details of her life. She implores them to reach for their best life despite even the most difficult, heart wrenching experiences. As she sums it up to one reader “We’re all going to die, Johnny. Hit the iron bell like it’s dinnertime.”

My Thoughts:
Strayed’s insight and compassion shine through brightly in her reassuring advice columns. Tackling everything from infidelity to death to betrayal, Strayed’s letters run the gamut of emotions, forcing readers to tackle their darkest behaviours while compelling them to do better in the future.

Strayed’s straight up, no bull**** advice really rang true for me. I think it will for you too!

Read Tiny Beautiful Things: advice on love and life from Dear Sugar from your local Vaughan Library.

Catch up on Strayed’s brave, true life journey in Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Full Title:
Last Airlift: a Vietnamese orphan’s rescue from war

Genre:
Historical Non-Fiction, Biography, Canadian

Summary:
What does it mean to be eight years old living in an orphanage in a war torn country? How does it feel to be stricken with polio and watch healthy babies and children get adopted – while you are left behind? Marsha Skrypuch explores these questions and more in Last Airlift, the true story of a young girl’s unexpected rescue from a frightening fate.

Tuyet and 57 other babies and chldren will make the flight to Toronto in the spring of 1975. This is a journey that will change their lives forever, proving the resiliency of the human spirit and the deep human capacity for compassion and love.

My Thoughts:
Although intended for a children audience, Last Airlift is a pleasurable, fast paced book for readers of any age. Tuyet’s rescue is nothing short of miraculous. Skrypuch helps the reader see the journey through Tuyet’s eyes, from her brave attempt to eat “horrible slimy” Catalina salad dressing to the first bonding moments with her adoptive father.

Borrow Last Airlift: a Vietnamese orphan’s rescue from war from your local Vaughan Library today!