Book Review No 35: How To Do A Liver Transplant by Kellee Slater

It is always interesting to read about people who grow up in the same town as you did, especially those who go on to do incredible things in their life. Brisbane surgeon Kellee Slater is one of those people.

Growing up in a very average family, Kellee did not dream of being a doctor from a young age. Initially planning to become a home economics teacher, it was only on the advice of her school guidance counselor that she even applied to study medicine at UQ - the day before her university preferences were due. From that moment on Kellee's destiny was to become first a doctor, then a surgeon and finally a highly specialised liver transplant surgeon.

Book Review No 34: No Place Like Home by Caroline Overington

Having read her previous books, I am used to Caroline Overington's unique yet highly effective story telling style - so it was no surprise that No Place Like Home was told through the voice of a middle aged man. And as always she totally nails the character - in this case a Catholic Priest (and police chaplain) named Father Paul Doherty.

Father Paul gets a call about a siege that is underway at Bondi's popular Surf City Shopping Centre. It is a very unusual situation - after all things like that rarely happen in laid back (and exclusive) Bondi. What is even odder is the instigator of the siege - a former Tanzanian refugee named Ali Khan - has made no demands and seems just as perplexed by the whole situation as the four hostages holed up with him in a lingerie shop.

Book Review No 33: Closed For Winter by Georgia Blain

Elise has lived most of her life in the shadow of her sister's disappearance from an Adelaide beach one hot summer's day. Although she was on the beach too, she did not see what happened to Frances. There are no clues, no evidence - just a gaping hole in the life of Elise and her mother, a hole that continues to haunt them both twenty years later.

Elise lives her life desperately blending into the shadows, careful not to be noticed or offer an opinion. She keeps a photo of herself and her sister taken that fateful summer and replays the day in her mind over and over. Her mother Dorothy has become obsessed with missing child stories, buying every newspaper available and cutting out any similar stories.

Book Review No 32: Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

Originally known as Amanda Rogers, Portia de Rossi had her first major movie role in Sirens with Elle McPherson and Hugh Grant. A couple of years later she had her big break in Hollywood with a role in the top rating TV show Ally McBeal. Outwardly Portia was living the dream of any young aspiring actress, but behind the scenes she was in the savage grip of Anorexia Nervosa - an eating disorder that would dominate her life for many years to come.

Growing up in Geelong, Portia (then Amanda) had dreams of stardom and was driven to try modeling while still a teenager. Although she enjoyed a somewhat successful career, Portia was riddled with self doubt - an affliction that would continue to haunt her despite her star being on the rise. Portia's other "shameful secret" was the fact she was a lesbian - something she went to extraordinary lengths to hide from the Hollywood gossip columns.