Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus review – getting to the bottom of ‘anal theory’

It might be shortlisted for the oddest title of the year award, but Jonathan Allen’s book is a serious work of theory, exploring the backside as a site of humiliation and disgust

States of Mind edited by Anna Faherty review – ‘a compelling collection’

Mark Haddon introduces this fascinating book, which looks at the nature of consciousness through literature, science, art and case studies

Mental illness is always a problem, so we will always need books about it

The current prominence of mental illness on bookshelves is good for all of us – so it’s important that reading about it is not a passing fad, writes Joanna Cannon

Gavin Francis: ‘Sex is given as much importance as death’

The GP and author explains how he conceived of a journey around the human body in the holistic spirit of medieval medicine

Top 10 books about cancer

Treatment of this cruel disease has advanced hugely in recent years, but writers from Philip Roth to Christopher Hitchens show the awful human cost it still exacts

Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig review – one man’s battle with depression

A timely memoir of mental illness reads as a highly personal and creative response to crisis

Matt Haig: ‘As therapy shows, words can be medicine’

Reasons to Stay Alive, the novelist’s book about his own depression, was much easier to write than to live through, he explains

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo – digested read

‘A stray sock on the floor can end in coats piled on a chair … sometimes even in death’

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker – review

A frustratingly ambiguous history of autism sheds controversial new light on the actions of Hans Asperger

Do we really need more guides to mindfulness?

From Ruby Wax to poetry anthologies, 2016 brings a glut of mindfulness titles. But does the art of living in the here and now require so many special guides?