Novel Cuisine Quiz | Literature: Something in Common

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. T. C. Boyle wrote a book in 1995 about two very different couples in Southern California, who are in two very different judicial and socio-economic classes, highlighting the extremes of both their reactions to one another and the life around them. Do you know the name of this book with an unleavened food in its title?

Answer: The Tortilla Curtain

"The Tortilla Curtain" is a story about an affluent couple, in one of the upscale, gated, residential communities (with their Mello-Roos bonds and all) who accidentally become involved with an illegal immigrant couple. The book follows the couples after the affluent man hits the alien with his car, gives him $20 and drives on.

It tells how that accident affects both couples and how they react. "The Tortilla Curtain", a euphemism for the US-Mexican border, probably will strike many people as being more "real" today than it was when it was written, considering the headlines in today's papers.

2. The second serving of food is a 1971 novel written by Jack Bickham. Disney thought it sweet enough to have made a movie about it in 1975. Give me the name of this novel, please.

Answer: The Apple Dumpling Gang

Jack Bickham taught at the University of Oklahoma and also wrote under the names Jack Miles and Arthur Williams. He wrote this story of a less than lucky gambler who helps a group of orphaned children during the California Gold Rush. There are also a couple of robbers involved, unlucky ones, naturally.

3. This next book, "Playing for Pizza", is by a well-known author in another genre of literature. It seems he must have enjoyed the location where he wrote "The Broker" so much that he sited this book there. What is the author's name, please?

Answer: John Grisham

This book is about a less than stalwart quarterback, Rick, whose agent finds him a position on a team in Parma, Italy, since no team in the U.S. or Canada will take him. Leaving behind his last epic loss, and hopefully a paternity suit, Rick takes off for Italy.

Although the pay is less, he does have the perqs of an apartment and car. He also learns he really does have to train with the team and act like a part of it. Eventually he finds he loves the team, the game, his teammates, and Italy. Grisham's description of the food is enough to send you to the nearest Italian restaurant!

4. For our fourth serving, we have a novel about a young lady from Kentucky who saves enough to leave the small town she calls home, for good. Her life after leaving, including having a baby put in her car so she becomes an instant mother, is what this Barbara Kingsolver book is about. What is on your green plate now?

Answer: The Bean Trees

In "The Bean Trees", Marietta Green saves for five years to get enough money to leave her small Kentucky town for the "world". Now named Taylor Green (named after the town where she first ran out of gas) she ends up in the southwest, baby and all. The story tells of the people she meets and helps, and who help her.

She has fallen in love with her new baby, new friends, and new home. A nice book.

5. Our next bite is really a hot swallow. It's about an unmarried woman, with children, who is a sergeant in the Army trying to get into Officer Candidate School (busy lady!) so that both she and the children can have a better life. What liquid is the name of this Tracy Price-Thompson book?

Answer: Black Coffee

Price-Thompson has written a book that gets the military life down well. Unfortunately, our busy lady Sanderella, with three children all by different men, meets another sergeant who happens to be all she wants in a man. Naturally, he is married with two children.

Not happily, but married, none-the-less. How the two of them handle this situation is the crux of the story. It's a well done book.

6. As we gobble down our home-style food, we don't have time to talk much between bites. So, all I need is for you to tell me the name of the author of "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe".

Answer: Fannie Flagg

This lovely story about friends and life in a small Southern town is a joy. As the past history is related, with its loves and hurts, its scandals and its joys, we are caught up in the lives of all the women. The book easily segues from the 1920's into the 1980's. "Whistle Stop Cafe" really IS better than the movie, but they're both beautiful.

7. Time for another drink after all that talking and laughing at the Whistle Stop, so we'll go on to Greg Iles' 2009 suspense-filled tale of the hero's home town, Natchez, MS, and how he, as mayor, tries to restore it to its former glory only to... What book is this?

Answer: The Devil's Punchbowl

A friend of the protagonist, Penn, brings him proof of crimes being committed at one of the river boat Casinos. Not long after, the friend is found murdered. Penn must go after the men who were responsible for the murder as well as for the illegal activities at the casino.

Unfortunately, the local authorities have been corrupted by the criminals, so he must undertake this quest alone, at risk not only to himself but to his family. Exciting!

8. I'm still thirsty, so I think we'll have an apple drink with this sixth novel by John Irving, another of the character-driven novels which are his hallmark. What will we be reading tonight?

Answer: The Cider House Rules

Although "The Cider House Rules" discusses the pros and cons of abortion, it also looks at the issues of love, fidelity, and even migrant labor issues. The book is really about rules and choices, those made and those not made. Irving ties all the issues together and shows what happens when the selections are made.

9. Since it's getting close to bed time, I think I'll have some "Milk and Honey", a novel published in 1990. The authoress has written 26 novels and two other small novels with her husband, Jonathan, an author in his own right. Who is this woman?

Answer: Faye Kellerman

Mrs. Kellerman writes in the crime/detective genre, and is a prolific, well liked authoress. Her protagonists, Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, who later marry, are like old friends to people who follow her books. In "Milk and Honey", Peter first finds an unharmed, bloody toddler walking in an area where she isn't known.

Then, he stumbles across a quadruple murder. The suspense goes on from there!

10. (Yawn) I know you're tired. I am, too. So I'll get into bed with a book I read years ago and read just a few pages before I fall asleep. The name is somewhat like one I read awhile back, "The Tortilla Curtain". Perhaps the first author borrowed the idea from John Steinbeck. What is this bedtime reading?

Answer: Tortilla Flat

A small - but big in heart - book by John Steinbeck, "Tortilla Flat" (moved from Carmel to Monterey by Steinbeck), could be looked upon as a fable. In fact, some have suggested that Steinbeck looked upon Danny, the main character, and his motley crew of friends, as King Arthur and the Round Table. I don't know about that, but it was a heartwarming, and yet sad, book.

Source: Author habitsowner

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Novel Cuisine Trivia Quiz

This is in answer to Highfell's challenge, and I hope both you and he approve. If not, I'll just have to sit down and read another novel...while I eat, of course.

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