Hark. Behold The McSweeney’s Advent Calendar: a treasury of the very best holiday humor writing from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, festooned throughout with holiday transmissions from across the vast McSweeney’s literary empire. Inside this Indigo-exclusive box of twenty-four gem-like minibooks (illustrated by acclaimed artist Sophy Hollington), you’ll find such luminous titles as Sun Tzu: The Art of the War on Christmas, This Woman in Labor is Going to Love My Drumming, and Ayn Rand Writes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, as well as comics, poetry, stories, art, letters, lists, harangues, and surprises aplenty waiting to be torn open and discovered for your holiday merriment. The McSweeney’s Advent Calendar is the perfect way to count down the days of December—or any other twenty-four-day span in need of daily festive guffaws and a light kindling of the spirit.
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The McSweeney's Advent Calendar is a highly regarded holiday gift, praised for its artful design and thought-provoking content. It offers a variety of humorous writing and illustrations, making it a delightful way to enjoy the festive season. While some customers found the stories amusing, others had mixed feelings about them.
"Beautiful design - hilarious cute stories" — Stef M.
"However, she likes the little books and says the reading is interesting." — June C.
"Artful & Thoughtful Advent Calendar" — Jill F.
Reviews
Perfect to wait for the holidays
"Great idea for a book lover, the majority are Christmas related, and really funny or interesting !"
— Sara (5/5)
A daily dose of satire
"A daily McSweeney's essay was the best ADVENT calendar for my partner!"
— Paula G. (5/5)
Funny, witty Christmas tales!
"Fun tiny stories packaged in adorable colourful books!"
— Renny (4/5)
Advent fun!
"Gave as a gift but she was very excited to get started. Always fun to get a McSweeney!"
— Laurie (5/5)
2025 McSweeny’s Abject Calendar
"With good intentions, my sister gave me the 2025 McSweeny’s Advent Calendar. I find it to be the most humorless and foul gift I have ever gotten. I am not a prude and have used my (guarded) share of the f-word. But I cannot get over how utterly unnecessary the use of profane language is throughout Book 1. For example, in its first two mini-pages: 4 f-words, 1 shit, 1 assholes. Really? Is this how you wish your customers to enjoy the spirit of Christmas? Take the first story of Book 1 and I implore you to please explain to me what it means and if it is funny. Book 1: “The next thing I’m going to do is carve one of the longer gourds into a perfect replica of the Mayflower as a shoutout to our pilgrim forefathers. Then I’m going to do lines of blow off its hull with a hooker. Why? Because it’s not summer, it’s not winter, and it’s not spring. Grab a calendar and pull your fucking heads out of your asses; it’s fall, fuckers. ” After my disappointment with the first half of Book 1, I chose to give this another chance and read Book 2. Again, I plead with you to please explain what this story (picked at random) is about and how it is funny. Book 2: “The Kauai we encountered was not the Kauai on any map. It existed in a state of spontaneous peristalsis with regard to the enjoyment of burnt meat piles. The females huddled in groups around a sailboat named Walter, and the males were content to launch biscuits into the stratosphere. They picked up spears and hurled them at our gifts. They attacked our ankles. They were friendly. ”"
— Jay P. (1/5)
No Christmas joy in this - disappointed
"Not at all happy with this. The box is beautiful, but as an avid reader of many, many different genres and authors, the stories are very lackluster. My daughter wanted to read them with me but then the first story already had swears in it, so that was off the table. I have no idea what McSween is, so I didn't know what exactly it would be, but I expected fun, joyful stories of the season. These were definitely not it. I wish I could return it, but I've passed the window. I would not recommend this advent calendar."
— HyggeAlberta (1/5)
Beautiful design - hilarious cute stories
"I don’t understand how people are disappointed with this advent calendar. This is exactly what I expected! The writing is classic McSweeney’s - so funny and clever. The packaging is beautiful. My husband loves delicately unwrapping each book jacket from the tiny book and reading it each day."
— Stef M. (5/5)
Great concept, poor execution
"Purchased to use for Advent up to Christmas. Was immediately disappointed with the initial ""story"". The second wasn't much better. The writing was poor and the content was not great. (I also find curse words in writing quite irritating. ) I wanted uplifting and fun Christmas stories. Very expensive for what it was. Return was handled great (thank you!) So I can't speak for the rest of what was in it."
— NotEnoughShelves (1/5)
Reading through Advent
"What fun to open a new book every day during advent! Each book has a cleverly designed book jacket, where the sine subtly shifts the tittle and number to a different position, letting one tell at a glance the books that have been read. The books themselves are amusing."
— Ontario R. (4/5)
Humorous books for a re-usable advent calendar
"The reads are largely fun and humorous, each one taking 2-3 minutes to read, making it easy to keep up on as an advent calendar. Each book is wrapped in a sealed dust jacket, making it fun to open up each day. I plan on reusing it every year!"
— LolaDruid (4/5)
Q&A
Published date: Oct 22, 2024
Language: English
Publisher: McSweeney's
ISBN: 9781963270174
Dimensions:
8.375" W x
4.125" L x
4.376" H
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