A matter of life and death: William Boyd on the rise of the surgeon-memoir

As surgery finds its voice in literature, what are the responsibilities, risks and rewards of working in the fraught world of the operating theatre?

Sound by Bella Bathurst review – losing and recovering the miracle of hearing

This fascinating memoir of a dozen years of deafness opens out into an exploration of science, music and silence

Wellcome science book prize goes to story of a heart transplant

Maylis de Kerangal’s Mend the Living, which tracks the journey of a heart from donor to recipient, is only the second novel to take the £30,000 award

The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer by Dr Bertil Marklund – digested read

John Crace sums up the health-giving Swedish concept of lagom, carefully using not too many words – and not too few

Step away from the parenting books – and start worrying and doubting yourself instead

Chinese tiger mothers get results, French parents teach manners and the Finns espouse self-reliance. British parents? We read books on how we’re going wrong …

Why mothers should expect less of themselves and more of their partner

Tiffany Dufu had motherhood and her return to work all planned out – until her scheme fell apart. But her crisis became her salvation

Reclaiming carpe diem: How do we really seize the day?

The spirit of this centuries-old philosophy has been hijacked. It’s time to get back to its original meaning, says Roman Krznaric

Sarah Wilson on living with anxiety: there’s no sugarcoating mental illness

Her cookbook I Quit Sugar made her the face of health and wellness, but Wilson’s memoir, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, traverses much darker terrain

Joanna Cannon vows to keep working in NHS after £300,000 book deal

Novelist who began writing to relieve the stress of her psychiatry job says literary success will not stop her listening to ‘real voices’ in hospital

The Violet Hour by Katie Roiphe review – great writers on their deathbeds

Nicholas Lezard’s paperback of the week: sensitive and faithful, this book charts the last hours of Susan Sontag, Sigmund Freud, John Updike, Dylan Thomas, Maurice Sendak and James Salter