Darkness at Noon
A brilliant new translation of Koestler's long-lost original manuscript. A chilling and unforgettable 20th century classic. From a prison cell in an unnamed country run by a totalitarian government Rubashov reflects. Once a powerful player in the regime, mercilessly dispensing with anyone who got in the way of his party’s aims, Rubashov has had the tables turned on him. He has been arrested and he’ll be interrogated, probably tortured and certainly executed. Darkness at Noon is as gripping as a thriller and a seminal work of twentieth-century literature. Published in Great Britain in 1940, it was feted by George Orwell, went on to be translated into thirty languages and is considered the finest work of pre-eminent European master, Arthur Koestler. And yet the novel’s worldwide reputation has, for over seventy years, been based on the first incomplete and inexpert English translation – Koestler’s original manuscript was lost when he fled the German occupation of Paris in 1940. In 2016, a student discovered that long-lost manuscript in a Zurich archive. At last, with the publication of this new translation of the rediscovered original, Koestler’s masterpiece can be experienced afresh and in its entirety for the first time. THE NEW TRANSLATION BY PHILIP BOEHM
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- my favorites for 2025
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler the whole Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman
- For the value of ‘best’ that includes (a) had a deep and long lasting impact on how I think about the world and (b) I consider beautiful pieces of writing in their own right, here are some in no particular order: The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman Naming and Necessity, Saul Kripke Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein (These you might want to approach via a gentle introduction if you did not study Philosophy to degree level) The Rediscovery of the Mind, John R Searle Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh Diaries, Samuel Pepys Falling Off the Map, Pico Iyer A Time of Gifts, Patrick Leigh Fermor The Lonely Sea and the Sky, Francis Chichester The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope Bevis, Richard Jeffries The Diary of a Nobody, George and Weedon GrossSmith The Inimitable Jeeves, PG Wodehouse
Hitch-22, essaysChristopher Hitchens Collected Essays, William Hazlitt Venice, Martin Gayford
The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch
Too obvious a list, perhaps, but some gems for all that! Happy reading.
- Aargh, Formatting! Try 2 :
For the value of ‘best’ that includes
(a) had a deep and long lasting impact on how I think about the world and
(b) I consider beautiful pieces of writing in their own right,
here are some in no particular order:
The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
Naming and Necessity, Saul Kripke
Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein
(These you might want to approach via a gentle introduction if you did not study Philosophy to degree level)
The Rediscovery of the Mind, John R Searle
Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse
A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh
Diaries, Samuel Pepys
Falling Off the Map, Pico Iyer
A Time of Gifts, Patrick Leigh Fermor
The Lonely Sea and the Sky, Francis Chichester
The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope
Bevis, Richard Jeffries
The Diary of a Nobody, George and Weedon GrossSmith
The Inimitable Jeeves, PG Wodehouse
Hitch-22, essays, Christopher Hitchens
Collected Essays, William Hazlitt
Venice, Martin Gayford
The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski
The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch
Too obvious a list, perhaps, but some gems for all that! Happy reading.
- Readers who appreciate Orwell's work will also likely appreciate Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler.
The latter's novel inspired Orwell on how to highlight dystopian ideas, and convinced Orwell that fiction is the medium best suited for this. It's a good read (and so is his research-oriented book "The Sleepwalkers" giving a history of physics/cosmology up to modern science - modern in Koestler's time).
- I’ve listened to 130 audiobooks in 2022 so far. I think I’ll get one more in before the new year but it won’t make this list. Some stood out:
Greek Mythology series by Steven Fry. Not literary adaptations nor scholarly treatises; just accessible, fun reads with enough accuracy and attention to detail for a layman like me.
I’m working my way through Cormac McCarthy. This year I read Suttree and The Crossing, which are both excellent IMO.
I discovered these beautifully written character observations: Matrix (Lauren Groff), Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan), and The Crimson Petal and the White (Michael Farber).
Not exactly unknown in the fantasy genre, but Joe Abercrombie’s Age of Madness trilogy is great. I think Abercrombie is actually an awesome writer. For instance, he has this trick for composing his big action sequences almost entirely through POV vignettes from disposable characters, which I think is a remarkable idea that essentially fixes one of the commonest problems in fantasy (plot over characters).
On Writing (Stephen King). I read a few writing guides this year and was by far freshest.
Collected Fictions (Borges).
Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) is a classic in the same vein as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
Shadow Divers (Robert Kurson) is a true-life story about divers discovering and exploring a remarkable wreck. Read this by accident, turned out awesome.
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (George Saunders) was one of those times where I knew little about a topic going in but got swept up by the author’s eloquence and enthusiasm.
I rediscovered Michael Moorcock’s Elric series thanks to new audiobook recordings. The Witcher but good.
Second Place (Rachel Cusk) was a batshit boilerroom melodrama. My first Cusk, will read more.
The first three books of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series are great, but particularly The Eyes of the Overworld, which I was surprised to find was hilarious.
I reread some classic Philip K Dick, including Flow My Tears and Stigmata, and More than Human (Theodore Sturgeon).
The first two books of The Dark Star trilogy by Marlon James are both huge things, but worth it for fans of super dark fantasy. The setting really works for me, as far too much of this genre is basically set in a hyper caricature of medieval Europe.
Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle might be the best fantasy series for me. Tenahu might be one of my favourite books of all time.
The first two books in Gene Wolfe’s Latro series are superb and perhaps just as good as his New Sun novels.
Gateways to Abomination by Matthew Bartlett is a gross, super dark, and fun little horror collection.
I read East of Eden for the first time.
Here are some books that were enjoyable but had some problems for me:
The Royal Game (Stephan Zweig) was a super interesting novella that just sort of stopped.
The Elementals (Michael McDowell) was an awesome horror novella with a mostly excellent cast of characters and plot, whicho was almost totally let down by an unsavory trope that’s unforgivable in something written in 2014.
The Blacktongue Thief (Christopher Beuhlman) is the first novel in a new grimdark series with some interesting variations on familiar tropes, although the characters were somewhat flat overall.
Here are some books I read in previous years but have stuck in my head: Grief is the Thing with Feathers and Lanny, Roadside Picnic, The Vegetarian, The House on Vesper Sands, My Name is Red, The Lathe or Heaven, The Gloaming, The Worst Journey in the World, The Fisherman, At Night All Blood is Black.
Things I read this year I wouldn’t recommend: Lord Foul’s Bane (offensive, poor writing), The Cement Garden (tries to be shocking but is quite boring), Lapvona (major disappointment), Them: Adventures with Extremists (superficial), The Wrack (feels trivial post COVID).
- I think Darkness at Noon by Koestler is the best book about how system breaks man and forces into submission. The ending of 1984 is rather pale in comparison.
There are also a few books by Russian authors on that topic, but Koestler’s work is just better at capturing the essence of the system.
