Still not finished your Christmas shopping? Look no further

Gift books that are the equivalent of the O blood group – universally acceptable – are terrifically handy for last-minute presents. Ideally, they should be slim and cheap. Not all the ones listed here cost a tenner or less, and can slip into a pocket. But several fit the bill.

The cheapest is Fairy Tales by the American poet Marianne Moore (Faber &?Faber, £3.50; Tablet price £3.15), part of Faber at 90, the publisher’s anniversary series of short works by famous writers in its stable. This is Moore’s clever translation of three of Charles Perrault’s fairy stories. It’s tricky to make “Puss in Boots”, “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty” compelling reads, but consider the economy and elegance of the introduction to “Cinderella”: “One time a man whose wife had died married again and it was a woman with two daughters, who were as proud and disagreeable as she was herself, who put on more airs than you ever saw – just like her in everything.” Moore quotes Padraic Colum saying that when a story solves a problem, it does more than interest us – “it has left a ‘pattern of order’ in the mind”. There: fairy stories are good for you.