Double the Fun

Above: Myself, Lilah, and Skipping Christmas by John Grisham


For this post I have written two different parts... I decided to just throw them together right here, since I know that sometimes when people post a new entry, I usually only see the newest one!


So first, my book review, and then a fun tag that I received!


Amazon.com Review:

John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25. Grisham's story revolves around a typical middle-aged American couple, Luther and Nora Krank. On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving they wave their daughter Blair off to Peru to work for the Peace Corps, and they suddenly realize that "for the first time in her young and sheltered life Blair would spend Christmas away from home."

Luther Krank sees his daughter's Christmas absence as an opportunity. He estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas," and have "precious little to show for it." So he makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends, and neighbors that "we won't do Christmas." Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But things start to turn nasty when horrified neighbors get wind of the Krank's subversive scheme and besiege the couple with questions about their decision. Grisham builds up a funny but increasingly terrifying picture of how this tight-knit community turns on the Kranks, who find themselves under increasing pressure to conform. As the tension mounts, readers may wonder whether they will manage to board their plane on Christmas day. Skipping Christmas is Grisham-lite, with none of the serious action or drama of his legal thrillers, but a funny poke at the craziness of Christmas.


My Review:
This book was actually chosen by my book club that I am in for our December read. I have to say that it isn’t generally what I would choose for myself, while I have heard people rave about John Grisham, I just haven’t had much interest in his genre of books. This was, of course, a Christmas book, and therefore quite a different book for Grisham to write.

Overall, I think that this book is good for what it is. It’s a short, quick read, and it’s a Christmas novel. What more is there to say? I went into the book not expecting much, and frankly, I didn’t find much. I felt that characters were unlikeable and underdeveloped (though the book is only about 220 pages, so that could be a problem with character development as well).

While I don’t ever want to give any part of the story away during my book reviews, I will say that I felt like parts of the book were extremely unrealistic. I guess I just can’t imagine a neighborhood where people are genuinely appalled that someone would “skip” Christmas. I’m not really sure why they would think it was their business. Then again, I also live in a pretty diverse state, and a town that while not quite a large city, could never be described as a small town anymore. I guess if someone didn’t celebrate Christmas on our street we would assume they had good reason; or to be honest, I really wouldn’t notice!

I guess what bothered me most was the way that the Kranks planned their lives around their daughter, Blair, who was much too old to be acting as spoiled as she did in the book. Granted, her character is always presented as a privileged and even spoiled “girl”, so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised at the outcome of the book.

I did; however, like reading a Christmas book and I think that I will pick up another one next year to “get in the spirit” of the Holidays. Just maybe a better one next time!

So bottom line: this book is good for what it is. It was inexpensive, and very short, and meant to be somewhat of a satire. Pick it up for some light reading, but don’t expect too much from it! Also, there is a movie made after the book called “Christmas with the Kranks”. I have heard that the movie is pretty bad, but maybe will have to judge for myself!


And now for my "tag"...


I can’t believe what a dork I am. Brandi (of Excess Baggage) tagged me literally days ago in her blog. Brandi, I promise I read your blog, and often, I just don’t know how I missed this entry! I think it was what I mentioned before about sometimes only seeing the most recent one on my dashboard when I log in.

Here are the rules:

List 10 honest things about yourself, and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers. (I don’t think I actually KNOW seven bloggers… so I will do my best!)

1. I will be 22… tomorrow!

2. I am a perfume-aholic. I LOVE perfumes and I don’t buy them nearly as often as I want to, 'cause they’re too freakin’ expensive!

3. My favorite food can generally be lumped into the “Asian food” category. I especially love Japanese and Thai, and quite fond of Korean as well. My favorite by far is Sushi, but if you ever come to see me, I will make you try my favorite Thai place as well. Well, okay, I won’t MAKE you, but I'd highly recommend it ;)

4. If a song has crummy lyrics, I generally will hate that song. I can’t stand the stupidity of some song lyrics, and I guess that’s the general reason why I don’t really like Rap/R&B music.

5. I love, love, love to read! I doubt this comes as a surprise to anyone, since I probably mention it a few times in my blog. I belong to a book club (and NO it isn't a bunch of old ladies! LOL), a group that I have come to love so very, very much. I have met some amazing friends in my book club!

6. I'm obsessed with Vitamin Water. Yes, I am aware it's not as good for you as water. Yes, I am aware it is pretty loaded with calories. No, I will not give them up! Seriously though, they are basically my one vice. Other than nail biting. Oh. And shopping.

7. I have a little wiener dog, which you probably also already knew from my blog, if you are a reader. She is seriously the best dog ever, in my life I have had many pets, and I loved them all, but not a single one was like her. Yes, I'm obsessed.

8. I LOVE headbands! I wear one pretty much every day, and feel naked without it. The same generally goes for necklaces, it's just a staple for me to wear it!

9. I love taking pictures of things. Someday I would love to invest in a high-end camera and just take some amazing pictures when travelling. I like the camera that I have, but I feel like it just doesn't capture things as beautifully as they are in real life. It bothered me the entire time that we were on our little trip to Alcatraz.

10. I love to write. I would love to start writing fiction again, but just feel like I don't have the time to just sit there and do it (which really is probably bs, since I'm sitting here writing this blog). Well, okay to be fair to myself I did start this blog to get inspired to write, and have found that it's been coming easier lately.


Well there ya go! Ten honest, and completely random facts about me... I will tag... (and if you've been tagged, feel free to tell me or ignore it, I know there's no point in doing it twice).

1. Brittany

2. Bridgett

3. Remo

4. Jenn

5. The author of Pretty Little Pictures



Have fun :)


In other news, just have to mention that Russ and I finally got our new mattress! Instead of doing Christmas presents for each other, we decided to "get ourselves a present", and finally get a nice mattress. Our old one was terrible. We got an AMAZING deal, and it was delivered yesterday night. Last night was one of the best nights of sleep I have had in a long time!



Thanks for reading!

-K