Nine graphic novels worth reading

First, a heads-up. This isn’t a list based entirely on my own reading. I've read three of these graphic novels myself. I've chosen the others because of their popularity and appeal among both fiction lovers and graphic-novel enthusiasts. I've probably missed many other good ones, so consider this a starting point rather than a definitive list.

The first graphic novel I read was Art Spiegelman's Maus I and II, which I bought many years ago from a pavement bookseller in Mumbai. In fact, I was lucky to find both volumes at the same place and time, and for a steal. I’m guessing a discerning reader, though not necessarily a collector, must have sold them to the bookseller.

Get off at Churchgate. Borrow a book.

For decades, I walked in and out of Churchgate Station on my way to work or a family outing. Through all those years, I almost always had a book with me. I read it on the train, often finishing a few chapters during the journey from Mumbai's northern suburbs to the city, and back again.

So you can imagine how I felt when I heard that Churchgate now had its own library. Right there, at the end of the station, at a spot I must have walked past thousands of times.
 
My wife and I decided to see it for ourselves, and came away impressed.  

Which character from a book has stayed with you the longest?

Readers—in person, on social media and in the blogging world—often ask which book has moved me the most. Many have over the years, but there's one that has stayed with me since I read it in my late teens—Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler.

It wasn't the novel so much as one character: Ezra Tull. I really felt for him.

Film Review: Obsession and 9 novels with similar themes

I swore off horror films after watching The Exorcist as a teenager at a cousin’s place more than four decades ago. It scared the pants off me. What made it worse was returning home alone on the dark and rainy night. That resolution didn’t last very long. Over the years, I have watched horror films now and then, more out of morbid curiosity than any real liking for the genre. In my defence, I haven’t read too many horror novels, though William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, on which the film was based, remains one of the best-known books in the genre. I haven't read it either.

Which brings me to Obsession, one of the most talked-about psychological horror films of 2026.

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Book Review: Fiddlers by Ed McBain

Fiddlers is Ed McBain's 55th novel and the last in his long-running 87th Precinct series. Published after his death in 2005, it is set in the fictional city of Isola, which is loosely based on Manhattan, surrounded by districts that resemble New York’s other boroughs.

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Fiddlers tells the story about a string of chilling murders that seem unconnected at first, with each victim shot twice in the face by a killer the papers have dubbed The Glock Killer. The victims are as different as chalk and cheese—a blind violinist, a woman selling beauty products, a college professor, a priest and an elderly lady walking her dog—but they have all been killed with the same type of gun. In fact, what ties the murders together is the Glock. But what could be the motive?

New Fiction: Books that caught my eye in 2026

One of the joys of being a booklover, apart from buying and hoarding books, is looking up fiction titles scheduled for release in a particular year, even if it’s not possible to read them all. I frequently read about new or forthcoming books that have generated interest in the media and literary circles. I’m curious to know more about these books and sometimes buy them, depending on whether I read in those genres.

To be honest, though, I don’t buy many physical books these days because I’m running out of storage space and already have more than enough books to read. My collection of comics is another story for another day. So, most of the new books I buy are ebooks, which I read on my tablet.

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Book Review: Bad Medicine by Paul Bagdon

Westerns have been my favourite genre ever since an uncle introduced me to Oliver Strange’s Sudden series in my teens. I read all ten novels by Strange, as well as another five by Frederick H. Christian—one of many pen names of the late Frederick William Nolan—who did a fine job of bringing the eponymous gunfighter back to life.

Since then, I have read Westerns every year, though not as many over the past couple of decades as my attention shifted to other writers and genres. Even so, I’m always looking for Western fiction. I was therefore delighted to come across a new author, Paul Bagdon, who appears to have written around fifteen series and standalone novels, though there may well be more. I also read online that Bagdon has published more than 250 stories and articles in several magazines.