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

The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy review – a memoir of wanting too much

The New Yorker writer had a life that balanced domesticity with intellectual and sexual adventure. Then it fell apart

Wellcome prize shortlist announced: books that ‘will change lives’

Six books are in contention for the annual award for excellence in science and health writing, including a trainee neurosurgeon’s posthumous memoir and books about the NHS, HIV/Aids and organ donorship

Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death and Surviving – review

Psychotherapist Julia Samuel’s case studies provide vital and compelling insights into bereavement

‘All my friends had some nightmare experience trying to get pregnant. My story took the cake’

At five months pregnant, Ariel Levy lost her baby. After four more years of IVF, had she left motherhood too late?