THE READERTHE READER opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair.===========================================================================SHORTCUT TO HAPPINESSIn Manhattan the aspirant writer Jabez Stone is a complete loser: he is not able to sell his novels he lives in a lousy apartment and he does not have success with women. When one of his friends Julius Jenson sells his novel for US$ 190000.00 to an editor Jabez fells envy and promises to sell his soul to the devil for success and accidentally kills a woman with his typing machine.===========================================================================THE MASKAfter discovering an ancient mask with strange powers a timid bank clerk is instantly transformed into an indestructible superhero able to fulfill his innermost desires and whims.