Families are a continual source of material for authors; literature is rich with their histories and idiosyncrasies, tragedies and triumphs, mysteries and convoluted memories, secrets and lies. 

Shuttsie, a reader who blogs at Book Buddy, has compiled a list for Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations of notable comtemporary titles centering on family life.

These families -- both real and fictional -- will give you a new frame of reference for understanding that there's no such thing as an ordinary family.

3. "Hons and Rebels," by Jessica Mitford

Lord and Lady Redesdale and their seven children are eccentrics from start to finish. As children, Jessica and her siblings run wild, inventing their own language so as to be able to safely sing dirty songs in front of their parents, shoplifting with their governess, and surviving their upbringing (including their mother's advice to take the bandages off their broken arm and do exercises with it, to prevent its becoming stiff). As adults, Jessica became a communist and noted journalist, sister Nancy a famous author ("Love in a Cold Climate" is a fictionalized account of the Mitfords) sister Unity, a fascist and personal friend to Adolf Hitler, and sister Deborah the Duchess of Devonshire. A notorious and hilarious family.

To view Shuttsie's entire list of families in fiction and memoir, visit Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations.