Early December once again found Santa...

Early December once again found Santa Claus in the paperback section of his favorite bookstore, looking for last-minute gifts. The budget cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency meant he could get away with lumps of coal for the people on the “naughty” list, he figured, but he still needed some presents for the “nice.”

COMIC STRIP COLLECTIONS. These always make good presents for friends, and they’re more inspired as hostess gifts than fruitcake or industrial chocolates: In “Starting From Scratch” (Andrews & McMeel: $8.95; 143 pp., paperback original) , Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston continues the saga of the middle-class Patterson family. In one dramatic episode, Farley, the aged sheep dog, rescues their youngest daughter from a flooded creek, then succumbs to the cold. The series packs an emotional power that’s rare in newspaper strips but makes appropriate holiday reading. “The Far Side Gallery 5” (Andrews & McMeel: $12.95; 159 pp., paperback original) offers readers some of the last cartoons Gary Larson did before retiring. Although many of the panels are very funny, the artist’s interest in cartooning was clearly waning. Berke Breathed presents the final installments of “Outland” and his thoughts on some favorite “Bloom County” strips in “One Last Little Peek: The Final Strips, the Special Hits, the Inside Tips 1980-1995” (Little, Brown: $11.95, unpaginated, paperback original) .

After lighting a small fire in the O.J. Simpson section of the bookstore, Santa departed with his traditional apostrophe, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Read! “