1 of My Stories

In this dual perspective book, we have Lucius and Aurora telling an updated version of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale.  Lucius, known by his classmates as "Hooks," is an amputee.  He lost both of his hands in a chemistry accident which forced his family to leave home and start a new life in a new town.  Aurora is a beauty, a dark angel, that has a kind and loving heart.  She and her father have recently lost her mother to cancer.  They start a new life in this new town, as well.

Aurora is instantly welcomed by her classmates; Lucius is instantly rejected.  Yet they form a connection from the moment they lay eyes upon each other on the school bus.  They just know each other.  Still, they end up running in different circles at school.  Lucius becomes a loner.  His only friend is the school security guard who used to be a football hero before he blew out his knee.  Aurora runs with the popular crowd, but sees the shallowness of her companions and watches Lucius from afar.

…

Ghost Writer is a suspense movie that Hitchcock fans will enjoy.  There is political espionage, a femme fatale, suspicious looks, and signs swinging on a dark stormy night.  Ewan McGregor has been hired as a ghost writer for fictional British Prime Minister, Adam Lang, played by Pierce Brosnan.  Lang is facing criticism for his interrogation techniques used on alleged terrorists, and so his image consultants decide he should write a memoir.  The memoir is partway finished, but the original ghost writer was found dead on the beach, and the book needs to be finished.  Ewan, known only as "The Ghost" in this movie, is hired to complete the task.  He is a loner with a cynical streak, which makes him the perfect ghost writer.  He has no family, and no real social ties, except for a previous relationships he calls "complicated."

The Ghost is brought to Lang's beach house where he alternates between interviewing Lang and writing in isolation.  Also staying at the hou…