Tag Archives: Arthur Koestler

Everybody Breaks, Bro: Costa-Gavras’ The Confession

Posted on April 29, 2018 by sheila

The fourth shot in Costa-Gavras’ excruciating film The Confession. If Robert Conquest explained the machinations behind the Soviet show trials in the 1930s in The Great Terror, and if, in Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler walked you through the the … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged Arthur Koestler, Costa-Gavras, Darkness at Noon, politics, Robert Conquest, The Great Terror | Leave a comment

Beware Perfect Language

Posted on February 1, 2017 by sheila

“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged 1984, Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon, George Orwell | 2 Comments

Recommended Books: Fiction

Posted on July 26, 2015 by sheila

I’ve added to this list. I still want to do a Non-Fiction one, eventually, but … you know … time permitting. Some authors are represented multiple times here. Other authors aren’t represented at all. For no real reason. Don’t read … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, James Joyce | Tagged 1984, A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Tale of Two Cities, A.S. Byatt, Amongst Women, Annie Proulx, Arthur Koestler, At Swim-Two-Birds, Austria, Bad Behavior, Beware of Pity, Birds of America, Bleak House, Canada, Cat's Eye, Catch-22, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Christine Falls, Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Crime and Punishment, Curtis Sittenfeld, Darkness at Noon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Dublin, Dubliners, East of Eden, Edna O'Brien, Elinor Lipman, England, Evelyn Waugh, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flann O'Brien, Franny and Zooey, friends, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Geek Love, George Eliot, George Orwell, Going After Cacciato, Handmaid's Tale, Henry James, Herman Melville, Hopeful Monsters, House of Leaves, Huckleberry Finn, Hungary, Inherent Vice, Iran, Ireland, Italy, J.D. Salinger, James Salter, Jane Eyre, Jeanette Winterson, Jincy Willett, Joan Didion, John Banville, John Irving, John McGahern, John Steinbeck, Joseph Heller, Joshua Ferris, Joy Williams, Katherine Dunn, Keri Hulme, L.M. Montgomery, Lives of the Saints, Lorrie Moore, Margaret Atwood, Mark Danielewski, Mark Helprin, Mary Gaitskill, Master and Margarita, Mating, Michael Chabon, Middlemarch, Mikhail Bulgakov, Moby Dick, Nancy Lemann, New Zealand, Nicholas Mosley, Norman Rush, Patricia Highsmith, Patrick O'Brian, Philip K. Dick, Play It As It Lays, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Possession, Prep, Russia, Scoop, Sergei Kirov, Sexing the Cherry, Shirley Jackson, Stefan Zweig, Stephen King, Tana French, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Bone People, The Country Girls, The Dead, The Grass Harp, The Great Gatsby, The Passion, The Shipping News, Tim O'Brien, Truman Capote, Victor Serge, Villette, Winter's Tale | 103 Comments

2013 Books Read

Posted on December 30, 2013 by sheila

It’s been a hell of a year. Devastating as well as redemptive. I started it out in Memphis, and end it here in New Jersey. And now my new niece Pearl has arrived! It’s been both a busy year as … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Anne Fadiman, Annie Proulx, Arthur Koestler, Balkans, books read, Darkness at Noon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Edvard Radzinsky, Elinor Lipman, England, friends, George Eliot, H.L. Mencken, Henry James, Herman Melville, Hungary, Ireland, J.D. Salinger, Jeanette Winterson, Joan Acocella, Joan Didion, John Banville, Joseph Heller, Joshua Ferris, Lester Bangs, Lorrie Moore, Patricia Highsmith, Philip K. Dick, Russia, Sam Cooke, Shakespeare, Stalin, Tana French, The Netherlands, The Only Game In Town, Thomas Carlyle, Victor Serge, Yugoslavia | 33 Comments

The Books: “Darkness at Noon” (Arthur Koestler)

Posted on February 3, 2008 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler Darkness at Noon is one of the most important books of the 20th century. The book is, as the New Statesman aptly described it: “One of the few books … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon, fiction, politics, Russia, Stalin, war | 25 Comments

R.I.P. Bobby Fischer: “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.”

Posted on January 19, 2008 by sheila

“When you play Bobby, it is not a question of whether you win or lose. It is a question of whether you survive.” — Boris Spassky “It was Bobby Fischer who had, single-handedly, made the world recognize that chess on … Continue reading →

Posted in RIP | Tagged Arthur Koestler, Bobby Fischer | 20 Comments

Christopher Hitchens on Arthur Koestler

Posted on September 15, 2005 by sheila

Christopher Hitchens has a piece on Arthur Koestler in Slate. I highly recommend giving it a read. I especially found this analysis of Darkness at Noon very interesting: From the first page of Darkness at Noon you become aware that … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellania, writers | Tagged Arthur Koestler, Christopher Hitchens, Russia, Stalin | 4 Comments

Tag Archives: Arthur Koestler

Everybody Breaks, Bro: Costa-Gavras’ The Confession

Beware Perfect Language

Recommended Books: Fiction

2013 Books Read

The Books: “Darkness at Noon” (Arthur Koestler)

R.I.P. Bobby Fischer: “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.”

Christopher Hitchens on Arthur Koestler

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Writing