Who doesn’t love to read about dysfunctional families that shine in moments of darkness or ordinary families thrown into extraordinary situations? When I started this list, my mind went straight to Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, Karen White’s grit lit, and everything by Lisa Genova. There are many great books in this category, but here’s an eclectic mix pulled from the old, the new, and the about-to-be released … Looking for a memoir in a class of its own? Try this one, written by a Hula-hooping, feminist, Muslim, Iranian-American lawyer and activist. (Did you get all that?) With brutal honesty and dark humor, Moezzi holds nothing back in her portrayal of manic-depression and its impact on her family. Plus, Lee Smith wrote a killer blurb. I rest my case. — Barbara Claypool White