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[[Category:New Reviews|Short Stories]]
[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|title=Something Like Happy
|author=John Burnside
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=How do you pick a name for a short story collection? It seems to me the ''...and other stories'' add-on is like picking a favourite child, a promotion of one portion of the content above the rest. [[:Category:John Burnside:John Burnside]] has got a title story here, but such is the mood of the book that he seems to have nailed the matter, and picked the most apposite name. ''Something Like Happy'' could in a way be the title for practically every piece here.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575590</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=Brief Loves That Live Forever
|summary=Alison Moore's ''Pre-War House'' is a collection of 24 short stories, only three of which are original to this collection, but most were first published in the last couple of years and, unless you are a an avid reader of ''The New Writer'' they will probably all be new to you. Moore's themes tend to concentrate on fairly dark characters, usually with a hidden secret, and more often than not dealing with the past and frequently some kind of personal loss or anguish. If you enjoyed Moore's Booker Prize shortlisted [[The Lighthouse by Alison Moore|The Lighthouse]], you will find plenty to enjoy here as most of the stories have a similar hauntingly sad feel to them. With one possible exception, a very short piece called ''The Yacht Man'' which did nothing for me, the stories are beautifully judged and equally satisfying, often saving a final hit or a surprise until the end of the pieces.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773509</amazonuk>
}}