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Family Drama

Jupiter’s Legacy

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Jupiter’s Legacy by Mark Millar
Format: Book, eBook, Graphic Novel
Who it’s for: Adults

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all struggled from time to time with comparisons to our family. Maybe you have a super successful family, with high expectations of you, that you’re afraid you’ll never live up to, much less surpass. Maybe you have a family who was not present when you were growing up, and you wonder for the rest of your life who they were, or whether they loved you. Maybe your family is overbearing, and you just want out from under their shadow. Maybe your family has done something terrible, and you would do anything to not follow in their footsteps. And we’re just ordinary people. What if your family had literal super powers?

That is the question raised by the Jupiter’s Legacy series (recently adapted by Netflix) by Mark Millar (author of Marvel’s Civil War, Old Man Logan, and many more amazing comics). In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929, Sheldon Sampson follows mysterious visions leading him and his friends to an island in the middle of nowhere, where they receive powers such as flight, super strength, and psychic abilities. For the next few decades The Union, as this group comes to call themselves, enjoy a golden age of celebrity and civil service. But years later, their children are vapid and rebellious, and the country has changed so drastically from the one they swore to protect. What is the role of a Superhero in this modern age, and is this new generation capable of taking on that mantle?

This is not your average Superhero story. Check it out if you like drama, mystery, action, complicated relationships, and commentary on American culture.

Find Jupiter’s Legacy in the catalog

The Moonglow Sisters

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The Moonglow Sisters by Lori Wilde
Format: Book, eBook
Who It’s For: Adults

Welcome to Moonglow Cove, Texas a picturesque small town of vivid colors, people and memories. Three young sisters, Maddie, Shelley, and Gia find themselves moving in with an unknown grandmother, Helen after the death of their parents. Embraced and raised by Helen amid multi-generational roots the sisters have the opportunity to heal and grow. Helen has successfully managed a bed and breakfast in the ancestral home her entire life. The sisters grew up cocooned in love and support until a betrayal rips them apart. Now with Helen’s health failing the sisters return to Moonglow Cove and if Helen has her last wish the sisters will learn to forgive, work (and quilt) together and reunite.

Find The Moonglow Sisters in the catalog!

 

The Project

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The Project by Courtney Summers
Format: Book, eBook
Who it’s for: Teens, Adults

Years ago, Lo’s sister Bea joined “The Unity Project.” The Project, as it’s casually known, is NOT A CULT according to its charismatic leader, Lev Warren, and his followers. They are a service organization, with centers for enrichment dotting the American north east. Warren gives a public sermon once a year, and has been known to predict world events, leading the faithful to believe the access to a higher power he claims to have is real. But Lo isn’t buying it.

When an opportunity arises for her to investigate The Project, she’s determined to unmask Warren as the charlatan she’s sure he is, and free her sister from his manipulations. But when she’s embraced by him and his movement, her doubt falters, and her defenses begin to crack. Does Warren actually perform miracles? Does The Project truly offer redemption? Or is it all just a dangerous façade?

The story is told through chapters alternating between the sisters, which can be jarring at first, but pays off, as it sets up a suspenseful and satisfying narrative journey, with twists and turns you won’t expect. The book features scenes of abuse, which may be troubling to some. Courtney Summers also wrote the Edgar and Audie award winning 2018 novel Sadie. Both books are at times unpleasant, but totally worthwhile explorations of family, truth, and identity.

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Hillbilly Elegy

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Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Format: Digital audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

J.D. Vance grew up in the Rust Belt town of Middletown, Ohio.  He is the grandson of a poor, uneducated couple who left their Appalachian roots at a very young age for a better life in Ohio.

Although part of the white middle-class in Ohio, J.D.’s family could never quite escape the Appalachian stereotype described as “uneducated and prone to impulsive acts of violence”.  Life for J.D. and his family was chaotic and dysfunctional, fraught with the social problems of his hometown including alcoholism, drug addiction, and constant money problems.

J.D.’s family struggled like many working-class American families from small towns do.  But J.D. was fortunate.  He had the constant love and support of his grandmother and extended family members. J.D.’s grandmother taught him that working hard matters as well as taking responsibility for one’s choices.

Hillbilly Elegy is J.D. Vance’s story of surviving the dysfunction of white working class America to become a graduate of Ohio State University and Yale Law School.  It is his own explanation of how the Appalachian values passed down from his grandparents actually helped him survive the stigma of the poor American and taught him that if he worked hard enough, he could make it.

The audio version of this book is narrated by the author.

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Ink

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Ink by Alice Broadway
Format: Book, Audiobook
Who it’s for: Teens, Adults

Imagine a world where your life story is tattooed on your skin. Leora lives in such a world. In Saintstone, where she lives, all the citizens mark their bodies with their accomplishments. They are marked even at young age. Your name, your occupation, your family tree, your medical history, any great achievement you’ve earned, any crimes you’ve committed, all in ink for the world to see. No one in Saintstone has secrets. Or so Leora thinks. When her father dies, his skin is flayed and turned into a book, as is tradition. His book will be “read” at a “weighing of the soul” ceremony, where it will be determined whether he has lived a life worth remembering, and his book will be returned to his family, to be kept on a shelf with the rest of their ancestors, or he will be forgotten, and his book will be burned. Leora is confident her father was a good man, but there’s a terrible rumor going around that his book has been edited, and that he, and whoever altered his life story, committed a horrible crime, possibly colluding with the “blanks”—people outside of Saintstone who do not tattoo their bodies, who’s life stories are hidden from view. Ink by Alice Broadway, and its sequels Spark and Scar, are original and intriguing stories about family, friendship, rebellion, and redemption. Find Ink in our catalog.

Fighting with My Family

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Fighting with My Family
Format: DVD
Rating: PG-13

If you love to watch WWE, you are going to love this movie! “Fighting with My Family” revolves around Paige growing up in a tight-knit wrestling family. Paige and her brother Zak are given one ultimate shot to try out for WWE. Paige is the only one who earns a spot in the WWE training program. This movie is based on the true story of determination that leads Paige down the path that makes her a star.  This movie also stars Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and cameos many other WWE stars. You don’t have to be familiar with WWE wrestling to be able to understand this movie. Anyone who has fought hard for something will definitely relate to “Fighting with My Family” .

Find it in the catalog.