Literary media have been abuzz about the "sick-lit" controversy: novels written for teenagers with themes of death, fatal disease and psychological disease such as anorexia.

The blurbs for 'teen sick-lit' — as it's become known — trip over themselves to promise their books will drive readers 'to tears' or leave them 'devastated'.

If you want to read a good book by a famous person, check out Karen Duffy's "Model Patient," which takes the genre of Sick Lit — wherein mostly female memoirists explore their battles with cancer, depression, lupus, anorexia, et al. — and turns it on its head.