Summer reading: the 50 hottest books to read now
From dazzling debuts to unmissable memoirs, prize-winning novels to page-turning histories … Plus our pick of paperbacks and children’s fiction
The Way We Eat Now by Bee Wilson review – strategies for eating in a world of change
The 21st-century diet consists of ‘unhealthy food, eaten in a hurry’. How did we enter this ‘food hell’?
How to Fail by Elizabeth Day review – learning from things going wrong
The novelist shares lessons from the challenges in her own life and those of famous interviewees
The Happiness Curve by Jonathan Rauch review – midlife need not be a crisis
An uplifting book argues that only society’s ageism prevents us from enjoying this transition period in life
Notes to Self by Emilie Pine review – a life laid bare in essays
Despite her painful material, the Irish academic’s debut collection of essays is wry and uplifting
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn review – walking to freedom
This uplifting memoir, about a couple who embark on a long coastal walk after becoming homeless, was shortlisted for the 2018 Costa biography award
Sleep Demons by Bill Hayes review – an insomniac’s memoir
Reissued with a new preface, this intimate and beautifully written book brings scientific research alive in a heartfelt and deeply personal narrative
Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon’s Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table by Stephen Westaby – review
A heart-stopping memoir – and a notably down-to-earth example of the genre
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
Gut by Giulia Endere review – a celebration of our most under-rated organ
An amusing and delightfully frank primer on our intestines crammed with amazing biological facts and anecdotes from the scatological limits of research
Dietland by Sarai Walker review – fat is still a feminist issue
A bold debut about female self-loathing and the representation of women in the media
Adventures in Human Being by Gavin Francis review – a tour round our bodies
A beautifully written guide to our wonders and weaknesses
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
24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep by Jonathan Crary – review
Nicholas Lezard's paperback of the week: A timely and important polemic that demonstrates how capitalism makes us willing connivers in our own sleeplessness
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