Teen fiction and the shadow of cancer
Mal Peet: From John Green's The Fault in our Stars to Jenny Downham's Before I Die, childhood cancer is becoming a taboo-busting subject for teen fiction
Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth About Sugar by Robert Lustig – review
Steven Poole learns why he cannot be blamed for eating the wrong food
What does your lunch hour look like?
Open thread: A health minister has said the trend for eating at one's desk is disgusting. Tell us what your lunchtime routine looks like
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan – review
Aida Edemariam on a case of suspected bedbugs that became a medical drama with worrying implications
Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon – review
Emma Brockes on a moving and thorough examination of parental love and acceptance
Call Off the Search by Anna and Andrew Wallas – digested read
John Crace reduces a profound spiritual journey of love and healing to a more manageable 700 words
The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves – review
By recounting real-life stories that have stayed with him, Grosz offers an intriguing insight into contemporary psychoanalysis, writes Susanna Rustin
Consumed: How Shopping Fed the Class System by Harry Wallop – review
In his breezy romp through the intricacies of our social structure, Wallop declares that Guardian readers are Wood-Burning Stovers and Prescotts are Blackpool Posh, writes Sam Leith
Susannah Cahalan: ‘What I remember most vividly are the fear and anger’
The New Yorker was 24 when she fell seriously ill with a mystery condition. Here she tells Carole Cadwalladr how she pieced together her terrifying ordeal to write a remarkable memoir
Five self-help books that want to change your life
It's January, so the shops are full of new diet, exercise and self-help books. We sample five of them, from a polemic against sugar to a harrowing account of gastric bypass surgery