The Shape We’re In review – sobering reflections on the obesity epidemic

Sarah Boseley's examination of the causes and consequences of obesity in the UK is salutary, but does not go far enough, writes Joanna Blythman

Leslie Jamison: confessional writing is not self-indulgent

When Leslie Jamison wrote a collection of personal essays she was inundated with notes from strangers longing to share their stories in return

Thrive by Richard Layard and David M Clark – review

Banish those negative thoughts: Jenny Diski questions a well-intentioned crusade to improve mental health undertaken by New Labour's 'Happiness Tsar'

How Not to Be Wrong: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life by Jordan Ellenberg – digested read

John Crace crunches the mathematics professor's words on life's conundrums down to a more manageable number

Elizabeth Is Missing review – Emma Healey’s dementia detective story

A novel narrated by an 82-year-old searching the neighbourhood for her elderly friend is both brilliant and unconvincing, writes Andrea Gillies

The Trip to Echo Spring by Olivia Laing review – a study of six alcoholic US writers

Affected by her own family's experience with drink, Laing's book is full of insight, compassion and unexpected beauty, writes Victoria Segal

Black Rainbow review – poetry in a moving account of depression

A journalist and mother charts her descent into illness and the slow rebuilding of her shattered self, writes Stephanie Merritt

Andrew Solomon: ‘Figuring out how to love someone who seems unlovable is very familiar to me’

The books interview: Andrew Solomon, winner of the Wellcome prize, talks to Hadley Freeman about the people who helped him write Far From the Tree, and how their struggles inspired him to start a family of his own

With My Dog Eyes by Hilda Hilst review – not for the faint-hearted

Nicholas Lezard's paperback of the week: Only the second book translated into English from the late Brazilian writer, this short work shows a mind unravelling