Did you ever feel like just skipping the excesses of the holidays - the list-making, shopping, gift wrapping, tinsel-hanging, hall-decking; the planning, baking, cooking, partying, and spending of a small fortune? Well, so did the Kranks in John Grisham's Skipping Christmas, a satirical and often hilarious send up of commercialized Christmas in suburban America. Luther and Nora Krank decide to spend their $6,000 holiday budget, that would have otherwise been spent on the aforementioned excesses, and take a 10-day Caribbean luxury cruise. What the Kranks didn't count on was the angry reaction to their non-conformist scheme from disappointed friends, co-workers, and especially the neighbors.

Skipping Christmas is a compact, little holiday story that has a message, lots of snow, and a happy ending. With only 177 pages, it's the perfect length for reading at this time of year when we're so busy making lists, shopping, wrapping gifts, hanging tinsel, decking the halls, planning, baking, cooking, going to parties and spending a small fortune. Check it out!