There have been a slew of self-help books that have landed on my desk. That’s not really remarkable for this time of year, what is remarkable is that most of these books have swear words in the title. Not that I mind expletives - a hearty “f***k you” at the right moment can be quite cathartic.
Books with strategically placed asterisks in their titles started years ago. In 2011, there was Adam Mansbach with his bedtime story Go the F*ck to Sleep, which became a bestseller for weary parents. And there has since been a sequel. Published in 2019, F*ck, Now There are Two of You is about the trauma parents experience having to get two kids to sleep.
In 2015, sweary self-improvement books exploded. F*ck Feelings: One Shrink’s Practical Advice for Managing All Life’s Impossible Problems by Michael Bennett MD and Sarah Bennett, and my favourite title so far, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do (A No F*cks Given Guide) by Sarah Knight, are just two of the titles in that genre published that year.
But it was the bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson that actually sprung the deluge of f**ks and sh*ts that we see on those primary coloured covers everywhere. His book, which was released in 2016, is an international phenomenon that sold millions of copies and created a whole new readership. The appeal of it was that it called readers to be part of a rebellious tribe, to embrace being a straight shooter, to stick it to the man, and of finding what’s truly important, and then letting go of everything else, especially the anxiety of trying. It spawned a sequel in 2019, the portentous Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope.
Hot on the shelves at the moment is UnF*ck Yourself by Gary John Bishop, in which he writes “you are 100% responsible for what you do with your life”. Ya, thanks hey. His sequel Stop Doing That Sh*t; Do the Work has just been published and looks to be a bestseller as well.
We have our own sweary books published here, but they are quite a bit more substantial than the international titles with their predictable gimmicky psychobabble. Unf*ck Yourself, Unf*ck the World by the bestselling author of The Goddess Bootcamp, Kagiso Msimango, is about how she overcame stresses that caused her a severe case of adrenal fatigue. There are, as Oprah says, quite a few aha moments.
Manage Your Money Like a F*cking Grown Up: The Best Money Advice You Never Got by Sam Beckbessinger was published in 2018 and has been a top seller since. This has been mostly word-of-mouth recommendations as Beckbessinger is a maven when it comes to understanding money. It really is filled with advice that is easy to understand and put into practice. In 2020, her manual for teens has come out called Manage Your Money Like a Grownup: The Best Money Advice for Teens. No swear words on this one, and it’s perfect for your kids. Get it for them. Seriously.
Maybe we ditch the cliched fs and bullshit and start using our imaginations to come up with nifty new titles. Maybe use old-fashioned words for these books, or even replacement swear words. Something like: Oh Hinky Poop!: 142 Ways of Knowing When You are in the Wrong, or Go Unfudge Yourself: 20 Ways of Getting Out of Making Dessert for Sunday Lunch. I would read that.
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