If you have any amount of family or friends around where you live you can related to Skipping Christmas, a recent book put out by John Grisham. If you’re Italian and still near your active Italian family around Christmastime, you will want to use the plot of Skipping Christmas as a timeline or check list to survive the holiday season.

Simply put, the main character, Luther, is a bit of genius. He’s a corporate tax accountant in his 50’s, living with his wife, in an affluent neighborhood. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Luther puts his own daughter on a plane to Peru since she joined the Peace Corp. Shortly there after, having dealt with the crowds and bustle of a major metropolitan-based airport around Thanksgiving, Luther begins to think about skipping Christmas. Rather than spend the cash and time and stress (as well as blood, sweat, and tears) on the secular aspects of the holidays, he’s decided to just… skip it. Skipping Christmas is the story of Luther’s plan, from before it starts to the activation of the plan, and to what happens after. I read it in May – I was able to appreciate it even while the temperature was hovering at 70 and the local trees were green. Definitely something to pick up; since it’s a short book, you will probably be done with the novel before you put it back down.