“Just One More Chapter” and Other Lies: 25 Books CNET Staff Are Reading Over the Holiday Break

Sneha is a sub-editor turned commerce writer with a love for all things digital. She spent years editing print publications, gaining a sharp eye for detail. She writes with curiosity and just a bit of humor. When she’s not sharing her takes, you’ll find her leveling up in a game, getting lost in a good book or caught in an endless loop of cute cat videos.

I have a thing about feminine rage (insert the Anya Taylor-Joy clip here), and that’s honestly the main reason I wanted to read this. The Palace of Illusions is a work of historical fiction that retells the Indian epic Mahabharata from Draupadi’s, or Panchaali as she’s often referred to, perspective. She’s a central figure in the original and, in many ways, the catalyst for the devastating war that follows. But this book doesn’t frame her as the usual damsel in distress. Instead, we see her rage, her tantrums, her sharp intelligence and the shrewdness with which she runs her household. We see her insistence on taking up space in a deeply patriarchal world.

I’ve always viewed the characters of the Mahabharata, including Draupadi, as almost god-like, but this retelling strips that away and makes them feel human.

This book came highly recommended to me by a close friend after learning I’d just finished the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and was looking for something to keep me busy for a while. The Unconventional Heroes series has an ever-expanding cast of characters is well-reviewed, and I am excited to see where this new (to me) set of adventures takes me.

It’s been a long, cold winter, and I’m ready to curl up with this romance novel with a touch of magic. The premise alone is enough to make me bump it to the top of the holiday reading list: A woman gets stuck in a time loop after eating magical dumplings. I’m a few chapters in and already loving how engaging and fun Lau’s writing is.

I’m reading John Dies at the End by David Wong (Jason Pargin). I’d been interested in reading it for a while but was assigned it as part of Tough Guy Book Club. The book is a supernatural comedy thriller, which was famously turned into a movie starring Paul Giamatti. It’s fine, I’m fine, you’re fine.

This meticulously crafted far-future world is relayed through the sensors of the protagonist, a cyborg Security Unit who calls itself Murderbot. It has guns built into its arms, super strength and the ability to hack pretty much any space ship, security system and/or lesser bot, but the best part is its sarcastic, off-kilter voice. After I finish I’m absolutely going to binge the Apple TV series starring Alexander Skarsgård in the title role. 

As a lover of all things pop culture, this is a book I’m super keen to dive into. It explores the many cultural phenomena that have shaped the 21st century so far, from musicians to internet trends to even political movements. It dives into how all these elements, big and small, shape how we perceive the world and interact with one another, while seeking to answer the overarching question of why creative innovation has seemingly stagnated in recent years. 

I’m a little late to this party and only a few pages in, but I’m already confused — and kind of loving it. The humor is weird, sharp, very satirical and layered with paradox. It keeps pulling the rug out from under you. The book is set towards the tail end of the World War II and follows Yossarian, a bombardier who, from what I can tell so far, is thoroughly disillusioned with the war and everything surrounding it. I can already sense this is going to be a ride and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

I have a soft spot for memoirs, especially the ones that feel larger than life. This one is a different level of crazy because it delves into the world of Facebook. More specifically, it lifts the veil to peek behind the scenes into the company. It starts around 2011, which was a huge turning point for the company since its mobile app launched around then. This is also an exploration of Wynn-Williams’s career there and the absurdities she faced in trying to help make the company legit and formidable on the world stage. Also: Mark Zuckerberg is an idiot.

My eyes are no longer good enough to read on a page, so I let my ears do the reading. Several of the Discworld novels from Sir Terry Pratchett have had a revamp, so I’m revisiting The Night Watch on Audible. It’s perhaps one of Sir Terry’s best works, touching on revolution, law and order and even PTSD, all wrapped in the humor you’d expect from him. GNU Terry Pratchett.

Linda is a normal woman: she works as a content moderator, attends her friend’s VBB (Vision Board Brunch) and dreams of getting married — to an airplane. She is sexually attracted to planes, and believes it’s her destiny to be on board one when it crashes. If you’ve ever felt like a fish out of water (or bird out of the sky), you’ll love this hilariously offbeat novel. 

I’m a sucker for a classic whodunnit, and four elderly people solving cold cases for fun in a posh retirement home already sounded right up my alley. Add an actual murder that threatens their peaceful little setup and I was sold. I first came across this through the Netflix movie adaptation with a star-studded cast (seriously, Helen Mirren and David Tennant are in this movie). I watched it, and as is usually the case with books-turned-movies, felt like something was missing. So, I picked up the book, and wasn’t disappointed. Yes, it can be a bit cliched and predictable at times, but it’s such an easy, comforting read. There are heartwarming moments, a dry understated humor that really works, and characters you can’t help but cheer for.

I love the Dune series. The attention to detail, the political dramas, the religious conspiracies, it’s all great. After re-reading the original Dune for the umpteenth time, I couldn’t help myself and had to dive back into Dune Messiah to explore the consequences of the first book. What does Paul’s empire look like? How does he rule? And is he bound to become the very thing he overthrew in the first book, or something much worse?

I’ll be listening to this on audiobook while driving around for the holidays. Some friends gifted me the book for my birthday and have not stopped raving about it. It also popped up on my TikTok feed, so I know it’s time to lock in and read the series before #BookTok spoils it like A Court of Thorns and Roses was spoiled for me. My fiance’ is also hoping it helps me with my new hobby of Dungeons & Dragons. 

I love the weird slipstream style of Karen Russell. I bought her Depression-era book, The Antidote, earlier this year. It’s about a memory witch who stores people’s experiences inside her, and it’s also about the destruction of a small Nebraska town by the dust storms. I have no idea what else is going to happen but I welcome its uncertainty.

I am a strong believer in animal rights, and I have been fascinated by recent discoveries about consciousness across different species (especially that octopus who learned how to play the piano). Focusing on early marine invertebrates, this exploration of animal minds by the “scuba-diving philosopher” Peter Godrey-Smith picks up where his earlier book, Other Minds left off, taking a broader look at the evolution of consciousness.

Ty Pendlebury recommended John Dies at the End, which reminded me I need to finish this book. This is the second book in his Zoey Ashe series and the first in which Pargin wrote under his real name, dropping the David Wong moniker. If you’re familiar with John Dies at the End, you’ll know his writing style is a mix of satirical drama, crime thriller and bizarre comedy all rolled into one. It’s totally my thing. The Zoey books follow a girl named Zoey who inherits a fortune, making her extremely wealthy. The only issue is it’s money from her deadbeat dad, who was some sort of crime boss in the town of Tabula Rasa — sort of a lawless futuristic version of Abu Dhabi. Now she has a target on her head and has to use her dad’s employees to track down one threat after another. This is a sci-fi book, but it’s also a super accessible one if you’re not that into sci-fi.

For Christmas week specifically I’m looking forward to reading the latest in Johnston’s cozy murder-mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective. Gwinny Tuffel is an actor in her 60s who took several years off to take care of her ailing father. Now she’s getting back into the game, and taking on dog-sitting jobs (sometimes on purpose, sometimes pushed upon her) and finding herself in the midst of murderous situations. Each book has a different breed of dog, Gwinny is a lovely protagonist and the mystery plotting is fun and satisfying. When I’m taking reading breaks, I will likely be rewatching the Benoit Blanc/Knives Out mystery Wake Up Dead Man on Netflix.

A little late to the party on this one, but I’m finally diving into the Discworld series after friends and colleagues recommended the Discworld series to me. I’ve heard quotes from the series for years, and I’ve loved the wordplay and dry wit, so I’m very excited to pick up this book.

Hardly holiday reading, but this is a study of our cognitive relationship to the products we use that I’d been meaning to read for over a year. Norman’s focus on how we understand and map (or mis-map) what products or software can do, and where design goes wrong, feels like a perfect reflective read in advance of CES in Las Vegas.

The Tyrant Philosophers series by Adrian Tchaikovsky keeps on delivering (the first entry won the BSFA Award for Best Novel), and I can’t wait to finish the third book when I have time. An antidote to every tired fantasy cliché, it follows the expansion of a ruthless empire across a magical world. Each book examines a different part of the kingdom’s colonization efforts — which feel based on the British Empire — and the stories of the people trying to survive the occupation.

This latest book takes place in a Caribbean-style nation filled with otherworldly monks, ancient rituals, necromancy and royal intrigue. Each entry in the series is largely standalone, although there are recurring characters.

Since I joked about putting a book my daughter is into in the Slack convo, I figured I’d mention it here. My daughter is 7 and is absolutely obsessed with this book and the second book in the series. It’s about a school of mad science (duh) run by three offbeat sisters. Kate McKinnon (yes, that SNL McKinnon) is a fabulous writer and what makes her humor stand out even more is the fact that my daughter reads the book while listening to the audiobook, which is narrated by McKinnon. If you have a kid who may be into Harry Potter or something similar, give this a whirl.

There is something wryly karmic and utterly engrossing about this exploration of the many ways our flesh-and-blood selves have been mechanized and Frankensteined throughout history. I’ve loved Roach’s deft, unflinching, devilishly witty bestsellers, Stiff and Bonk. Within the first few minutes, it was clear Replaceable You’s deconstruction and then reconstruction of the human body also contains the same kind of deadpan magic that transforms medically-minded non-fiction into fascinating, factual prose.

Imagine a future not too far removed from ours, where inmates fight each other to the death in “hard action-sports.” Loretta Thurwar and Hurricane Staxxx are two of these fighters, celebrated for their ability to murder. They also happen to be lovers who, amid all the violence, remind each other of their own humanity. With its powerful social commentary, this gripping novel somehow feels like an even more plausible version of The Hunger Games. 

One of my favorite romance writers just released the final book in her series called Love & Hockey about players on the same hockey team all falling in love! I binged (almost) the whole series a few months ago and have been very impatiently waiting for this final book to come out. So to celebrate, I’m re-reading the whole series so I can read the new book! Lauren Blakely has become one of my favorite romance writers and favorite reads while I bide my time for new Tessa Bailey & Ava Rani books to be released. 

This book, the second in Pullman’s The Book of Dust sequel series to his phenomenal His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy, has been sitting on my shelf since 2019 (and gone unread through three moves). That’s how much I was aggrieved by the feeling of betrayal I had reading its 2017 predecessor, La Belle Sauvage, which undermines HDM protagonist Lyra’s free-spirit autonomy by swaddling her in predestined prophecy and a smothering conspiracy of guardians. (Lyra, my gremlin child, they did you wrong.) But time heals all wounds, and I’m ready to read whatever Pullman has in store for The Secret Commonwealth — which should reveal even more about our heroine’s life after HDM and Lyra’s Oxford — to prepare for the trilogy’s finale, The Rose Field, which dropped in October.