Skipping Christmas
John Grisham, 2001
★ 3.58 from 92.9k ratings on Goodreads
Graphic novels & humour Literary fiction
A couple decides to skip Christmas entirely—no tree, no gifts, no parties—and discovers how much the holiday costs them in every sense. The book moves with a lyrical, observant pace, balancing quiet solitude with a pervasive sense of unease and wonder.
Feels like unease, wonder and humor. About solitude, nature and time.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you are interested in the subtle pressures of social expectations and holiday traditions. Be aware that the characters are often frustrating, and the story focuses heavily on consumerism.
Why read it
Read this to examine the true cost of modern rituals and discover how much you value your personal space during the busy winter season.
A page from the book
A creature from an older world appears at the edge of ours.
He slammed the door. His third step was into a shallow pothole. Cold water soaked his right ankle and oozed down quickly into his shoe. He froze for a second and caught his breath, then stepped away on his toes, trying desperately to spot other puddles while dodging traffic. What readers say
Readers are split: many find the holiday premise funny and touching, especially its take on Christmas rituals and neighborhood pressure; others are frustrated by the unlikeable characters and the story’s embrace of conformity and consumerism.
John Grisham.Grisham wrote this as a comic detour from his legal thrillers; it became the 2004 film Christmas with the Kranks, with Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Books that feel like this
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens, 1843
Three ghosts, one night, and the cheapest man in London forced to look at what his life has actually cost.
More by John Grisham
The Rainmaker
John Grisham, 1995
A broke law student sues an insurance company for a family it refused to help, and finds out what a lawsuit really costs.
The Pelican Brief
John Grisham, 1992
A law student's hunch about two murdered Supreme Court justices makes her the target of a hunt she never asked for.
The Street Lawyer
John Grisham, 1985
A young associate witnesses a terrifying heist in a high-stakes law firm, forcing him to confront the true power structures that lie beneath the veneer of corporate justice.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Skipping Christmas for me?
- You may like it if you are interested in the subtle pressures of social expectations and holiday traditions. Be aware that the characters are often frustrating, and the story focuses heavily on consumerism.
- What is Skipping Christmas like?
- The book moves with a lyrical, observant pace, balancing quiet solitude with a pervasive sense of unease and wonder. Feels like unease, wonder and humor. About solitude, nature and time.
- What should I read after Skipping Christmas?
- If you liked Skipping Christmas, try A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens), Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) and One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez).
A taste of the feed
The moment you realise time isn’t passing but turning in circles.
—Qué quería —murmuró—, el tiempo pasa. —Así es,—dijo Úrsula—, pero no tanto. Al decirlo, tuvo conciencia de estar dando la misma réplica que recibió del coronel Aureliano Buendía en su celda de sentenciado, y una vez más se estremeció con la comprobación de que el tiempo no pasaba, como ella lo acababa de admitir, sino que daba vueltas en redondo.
One Hundred Years of Solitude · Gabriel García Márquez
The strange calm that arrives when a lie comes out perfectly.
Anna said what came to her lips, and marveled, hearing herself, at her own capacity for lying. How simple and natural were her words, and how likely that she was simply sleepy! She felt herself clad in an impenetrable armor of falsehood. She felt that some unseen force had come to her aid and was supporting her.
Anna Karenina · Leo Tolstoy
What kind of love would refuse to spare you anything.
When God loves a creature he wants the creature to know the highest happiness and the deepest misery … He wants him to know all that being alive can bring. That is his best gift…. There is no happiness save in understanding the whole.
The Eighth Day · Thornton Wilder
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