Writing a good memoir demands a certain level of detachment, an ability to consider oneself objectively. In The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Philosophy (Picador, £16.99; Tablet price £15.29), Andy West uses his experience of teaching prisoners philosophy to reach a deeper understanding of his own position in a family several of whose members have served time, and also of the inmates and officers who try to make the best of it. It is sobering, written with compassion and searing honesty.