The best psychology books of 2014

From moving accounts of how we deal with dying and suffering to two brilliant takes on Freud. By Lisa Appignanesi

America’s Witness by John L Williams review – the unusual life of Eartha Kitt

Nicholas Clee on an absorbing biography of the versatile singer and actor who strived to transcend her fractured background

Miss Havisham’s Expectations/Sikes and Nancy review – sex and death in a Dickens double

A surprisingly sensuous evocation of Great Expectations’ jilted bride is paired with a blood-chilling portrait of the savage brute from Oliver Twist, writes Michael Billington

Life on the Edge review – the weird world of quantum biology explained

Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden’s insights into the fundamental tenets of science are fascinating but not always easy to fathom for the beginner, says Nicola Davis

Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange review – powerful stories from ancient Arabia

An enchanting treasury of tales from the old orient is translated into English for the first time, writes Amanda Craig

Infidelities review – Kirsty Gunn’s delicate collection of short stories

Lettie Ransley enjoys a series of unsettling tales charting hidden emotional topographies

Severed review – a compelling cultural history of decapitation

Frances Larson tells a very human account of an inhumane act across the centuries, says Corinne Jones

The best fiction for older children this Christmas

A teenage boy enjoys an incident-packed train ride, parents are chosen in a parallel universe and Michael Morpurgo is on thrilling form, writes Kitty Empire

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies review – no more than a middling finale from Middle-earth

Despite the admirable Martin Freeman, this last film of a bloated trilogy offers few departures from the tried and tested, writes Mark Kermode

The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football review – the ugly side of the people’s sport

David Goldblatt’s exhaustive history reveals how big business has taken the magic out of football, writes Tim Adams

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies review – packs a huge chain-mail punch

Jackson’s pumped-up final hobbit movie really works: it’s exciting, spectacular, genial and rousing, writes Peter Bradshaw

Treasure Island review – casting girls unearths a new side to boys’ adventure

Jim Hawkins becomes a girl rebelling against gender roles in this imaginative adaptation, which keeps alive the wit and excitement of the book, writes Michael Billington

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party review – hip-hop spin on Lewis Carroll

ZooNation’s clever adaptation has a body-popping rabbit, b-boy battlers and a Red Queen with anger issues, writes Judith Mackrell

The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History by Boris Johnson – review

Why is Boris Johnson publishing a breezy book about Churchill? The answer depends on your view of his political calculation, writes Ian Jack

101 Dalmatians review – stage show with tail-wagging swagger

Sally Cookson’s witty, grown-up version of Dodie Smith’s canine caper is full of joie de vivre, writes Lyn Gardner