5 Great Stocking Stuffer Books

Selecting the stocking stuffer is an art. Fill a stocking with purely candy and tiny treats, and it’s Halloween. At the same time, I’ve yet to discover the oversized sock that can remain aloft when saddled with a hardcover version of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. But never fear, noble shoppers, for this is why slim, trim, teensy paperbacks were invented. So clear a hole between the Snickers and the miniscule bendy reading light for some of these small beauties, sure to please.
We Are All Completely Fine, by Daryl Gregory
This book is more than fine. It’s twisted, odd, touching, and stupendous. When a mysterious psychiatrist gathers together survivors of supernatural trauma for a support group, things are going to get bumpy. And they do it quickly when you have a monster hunter in the room alongside a cranky elder who survived life as a cannibal buffet item. As you might expect, the disparate stories these souls have to tell aren’t so unrelated after all.
Smut, by Alan Bennett
Two triumphant tragicomedies in one itty bitty living space. In The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson, Bennett introduces Mrs. Donaldson, a recent widow who decides to supplement her income—and subsequently spice up her life—by volunteering as a test patient for medical students, and also renting out a spare room. In doing both, she finds two titillating new hobbies: role-playing and voyeurism. In The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes, we find a complicated web of family deception in which nobody knows who knows what. All of that in 160 pages.
Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
The first entry in VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy introduces Area X, an overgrown unknown land cut off from the outside world. That is, until the expeditions begin. Previous expeditions have not fared well, with the members of the 11th all dying quickly after their return of an aggressive cancer. Annihilation focuses on the 12th expedition, composed entirely of women, and like them, readers should expect the unexpected.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman
At his finest—which is usually where he operates—Gaiman makes magic. This short reflection on the wonderment and bewilderment of childhood is sad, sweet, poignant, and yes, magical. When a man returns to his childhood home for a funeral, he begins to ruminate about events from his seventh year. It all centers on a farm down the road and a girl named Lettie Hempstock. His memories seem too strange to be true, but you can bet they are.
Parnassus on Wheels, by Christopher Morley
Sometimes the best strategy is to kick it with a classic, and Morley’s pint-sized yarn about a most epic road trip—on a book caravan!—certainly fits the bill. Christmas requires a certain amount of whimsy, and it’s here in these pages in droves. There’s an enigmatic and delightful bookseller, a no-nonsense farm woman, and a traveling bookstore called Parnassus. It’s a simple adventure of their life on the road, which makes it all the more enjoyable.