Rating: 
Summary: Short and sweet
Review: Skipping Christmas is a different type of book by John Grisham. It's not about law and there is not one court scene. It's about a small family of three, two parents and a young daughter. The book starts out with the departure of Blair, the daughter of Nora and Luther (the two parents). Blair is going off into the jungles of South America for a goodwill mission. Luther and Nora, the two parents, are dismayed that their beloved daughter is gone into the mysterious jungles. Luther, the father, realizes that this Christmas season will be different. Much different. He gets an idea when he realizes how much stress, money, and pain go into Christmas. Why not skip the whole ordeal. No office party, no gratuitous and unsolicited Christmas cards, and no wasted money on gifts. His plan is to skip Christmas all together, and he tells his plan to his wife. If you haven't ever read a John Grisham book before, this would be a great start. It's a short read, with only 177 pages. The story is wonderful, and the ending is superb. This was also the funniest John Grisham book I've ever read, and I truly enjoyed it. It's similar to "A Painted House" in that it's not about law or the legal genre. That's a refreshing change of style for Grisham, who incorporates a humorous dose of wit and sarcasm in "Skipping Christmas." This is a great story by John Grisham, and if you haven't read it I suggest you do. The beginning might seem a little slow, but don't worry-the book starts getting really interesting (after Chapter 5). "Skipping Christmas" was a great Christmas novel that changed the way I thought about the unique American and Christian tradition.
Rating: 
Summary: Christmas in July!!
Review: I have had this book on my bookshelf like many of my other ones, that I have no read yet. I finished it in 3 hrs. Luther is such a tan BAH-MUMBUG' in this book until the one fateful call from his daughter, that makes his wife spin into action on Christmas Eve to get the Christmas spirit going, in a not so cheerfull house. With the help of their neighbors and the community, they are able to pull it off with out a hitch. My only question for this book is. Did they get the tree back to the rightful owners, before they returned and did his wife and family find out about it??? Cute little book, you can definatly tell this was written from a males point of view. Nice to read about Christmas in July, my own little treat.
Rating:
Summary: FAST
Review: IF YOU ARE TIRED OF BORING COURTROOM STUFF YOU WILL LOVE THIS
HUMOROUS BOOK. THE BOOK ACTUALLY HAS TWO PARTS AND THE SECOND
PART STARTS HALF WAY THROUGH WHEN HE PUTS ON THE HAWAIIAN SHIRT.
PART ONE IS WRITTEN FROM A MAN`S PERPECTIVE AND PART TWO A WOMAN`S. THIS ALSO IS A BOOK THAT I SHARED WITH FRIENDS AND THEY
LOVED IT.
Rating:
Summary: Puzzled
Review: As someone who hates the commercial aspect of Christmas, I was delighted to read Skipping Christmas, and was actually rooting for the Kranks to get out of town as fast as possible. Just a concern though, and I hope someone can answer this. Why are the Kranks so relieved to find out that their daughter's Peruvian fiance's skin colour is "not dark at all, but actually, two shades lighter than Luther Krank's"?
Rating:
Summary: Hysterically funny.
Review: We listened to this while driving across country at Christmastime and it was hysterically funny. I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable
Review: This is not one of his serious mysteries, but a fun one about a couple who decides to skip all the hoopla of Christmas because their daughter isn't going to be home for it this year. They decided that they would use the money for a trip instead. They run into all sorts of censorship and problems from their neighbors and everyone over the deal. It is quite entertaining. Buy the book if you want something that is light to read and leaves you smiling.
Rating:
Summary: they gotta make a movie of this!
Review: This would be a perfect story for a movie. And it would probably become a holiday tradition in some families. The story is about a couple who decide to skip Christmas because their only child has gone to Peru for two years. They decide to take a cruise instead and enjoy the money they spend for a change. People in their town, and especially on their street just don't get it. And it only gets worse when their daughter suddenly shows up on Christmas Eve, new fiance in tow, wanting to show him all the great things her family does at Christmas. It's a scream in places and in others, you begin to understand that, commercial as Christmas has become in our world, it's just as hard work (and a lot less fun)to NOT have it. You'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: You probably shouldn't skip this one.
Review: Christmas time means many things to many people, even Jewish people. Grishim manages to capture the frantic, craziness of the holiday season on this thin little book that one can read in one night, providing they are all through with their Christmas shopping -- UGH!
Definitely, pick this one up next time you're out spending way too much money on everyone except yourself. Drop the few bucks $$$ and splurge on a little literary enjoyment just for little ole YOU! I think you're in for a treat.
Reading a short book is such a great diversion during Christmas time, and you'll be tempted to do what the main couple do in the story.
Oh yesssss........once you see how they plan on skipping Christmas, you'll plan your escape as well.
Happy Holidays!
Rating: 
Summary: Laughingly Bad
Review: I was on my way to thinking this book was hokey but tolerable, much like It's A Wonderful Life, when it hit me: this story is supposed to take place in the present. I think I read that one of the characters spoke into her cell phone or something, and realized that this goofy, preachy, Reader's Digest-style short story was supposed to be swallowed as if we heard about it occurring to our own neighbors or co-workers now, and not 60 years ago. At that point, I went from desperately struggling to suspend disbelief to all-out disgust. The idea that anyone in today's world even knows what his neighbors are doing for the holidays, let alone cares about the degree to which they are observed, is absurd. No one pays attention to this kind of thing, and certainly reserves their neighborly gossip for more pressing, twenty or 21st century fare like shootings, terrorism, and sex between school-aged kids. The only community that would be rocked by the scandal of someone skipping Christmas to save money and evade commercialism is that of pre-color Pleasantville (you know, the Toby Maguire movie?). This tale is such a one-trick pony, too. Every plot device comes in bunches: it's not enough to have the police come to the Kranks' house looking for annual contributions and doing double-takes upon hearing that they're skipping Christmas- the boy scouts have to do the same thing later that week. Every character is an unbelievable cliché, from the uptight neighbor who insists on putting a plastic snowman on the roof of every house on the street, to the silly jealous coworkers who envy the Kranks for taking a Carribean vacation. The only reason Nora Krank isn't a cliché is because she is outright crazy: she eagerly goes along with Luther's plan until it backfires due to unforeseen circumstances (to everyone but the Kranks, that is- any reader over the age of 7 will see them a mile away); at that point, she turns around 180 degrees and attacks her husband as if she weren't a willing accomplice. [By the way, "The Kranks?" Please. Why not just call them Mr. and Mrs. Evil McNasty, or something equally transparent? This is the level of sophistication Grisham is working with here, perhaps to keep things simple enough to get his goofy, subtle-as-a-pie-in-the-face moral message across to an audience he clearly underestimates (or better yet, condescends to).] There's so much more to tell, but I can't even go on describing this book's shortcomings. If you need to know more than all of these negative reviews are saying, pick the book up from your local bookstore or library, open to any page, and read just two paragraphs. I have no doubt that you will find enough wrong with this book by following those few simple steps- that's all it takes, folks. Observe Christmas, and skip this book instead.
Rating:
Summary: a great concept
Review: Luther Krank (love the last name!) has crunched the numbers and found they spent $6100 on last year's Christmas. So this year, with their only daughter Blair (a selfish whiny dislikable creature) on her way to the Peace Corps, Luther asks his wife Nora that they simply skip Christmas this year and go on a cruise --- they will actually save money because the cruise doesn't cost nearly as much as Christmas. As Luther points out, Christmas is not about having a Frosty on their roof or going to the mall, they aren't skipping the MEANING of Christmas! But it is so much harder because their neighbors simply won't let them do it. There is talk both behind their back and to their face, they are given pressure to buy trees, etc, are hit up for donations, are caroled with a vengeance. I liked the perspective because, being from a religion with no overcommercialized holidays but having heard Christian friends bemoan how much shopping and obligation they had for the season (they liked the actual Christmas day, spent with family and the true meaning, just not the days beforehand), I wondered what would happen if someone just said no. In the same vein, I disliked when Nora was upset with their lack of Christmas lights "as if they were Hindus or Buddhists, some strain that didn't believe in Christmas". Strain? Excuse me? Nora is borderline Stepford, and coddles their overgrown baby of a daughter. Yuck.
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