Trend watch: Angry-lit

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Trying to lose weight, get over a break-up or find the perfect partner?

It seems we're gluttons for punishment with some of the most successful self-help titles on the market being positively brutish to readers. It's the equivalent of literary boot-camp -- having someone yell at you and say buck up, stop being weak, get a life!

The latest angry-lit bestseller is called "Skinny Bitch" and it tells you in expletives and toadying language that you need to "STOP BEING A MORON AND START GETTING SKINNY!" (their caps, not mine).

The style is blunt: "Being a fat pig will hinder you, sober or drunk. And habitual drinking equals fat pig syndrome. Beer is for frat boys not skinny bitches. It makes you fat, bloated and farty." As for their diet advice: "Don't eat lunch until you're close to ravenous" and "Donate blood. You can save a life and lose weight at the same time."

The book recently was given a high-profile boost when Victoria Beckham was photographed with it in Hollywood. It was -- in marketing terms -- an act of perfect synergy.

"Most women have some kind of girlfriend that really tells it like it is or lays it on the line for them, and it's written in that voice," said one editor, justifying its aggressive tone.

Books that lay it on the line, or show a bit of tough love, deviate from the standard self-help books which are usually written in a warm, inclusive and friendly tone. Not so angry-lit. It says things like: "He's just not that into you", "You're fat!" or "Get off your disgusting butt and get a job!"

Yet it seems that punters already feeling low are keen to be kicked when they are down. "Skinny Bitch" is a New York Times bestseller while the take-no-prisoner tones of Greg Behrendt (author of "He's Just Not That Into You" and "It's Called a Break-Up Because It's Broken") also has a legion of fans.

His career as a self-help author started with one straightforward comment to a female friend ("he's just not that into you") which was later used as a line in "Sex and the City."

The book has topped best seller lists world-wide and is now being made into a movie.

But not all Angry-lit has been so warmly received.

In 2004, Bill Cosby was criticized for "Come on, People" his book that called on African-Americans to take responsibility for their actions and provide leadership and control of their own communities.

Said one critic from the Denver Post, "Cosby's message is a disgrace to black leaders who fought so valiantly to secure equal rights for everyone. The fact that he ignores the continued racially motivated assaults experienced by the poorest blacks in the country is not only shameful but outright dangerous in a country already looking for any excuse to slam black people into the gutter, only to leave them to drown in their own alleged self-imposed misery."

Ouch. That tough love's coming right back at ya. E-mail to a friend