Literary Titles Trivia

1. Philip Roth's 1995 novel "The Great American Novel" is centered on what sport?

From Quiz Great Literature

Answer: baseball

Roth's novel is a farce about America's national pastime, telling the story of the fictional Patriot League and some of the most dysfunctional characters in the history of baseball. The novel tells the story of the Port Ruppert Mundys, a New Jersey based team that includes a one-legged catcher. This actually mirrors the lower standards in Major League Baseball during World War II. The primary criticism of Roth's book is that it tends to take the underlying joke and beat it to death. Roth also faced charges of misogyny, a common criticism throughout his career. Other critics charge Roth with racism, even though racism was a common element of life in the 1940s.

From Quiz Fix Some Titles

Answer: Shift

'Switch' is a synonym of 'Shift', hence the inspiration for this mistitling. The titles in this anthology were either previously unpublished or had been published during the late '60s or '70s, mainly in magazines like 'Cavalier' or 'Penthouse'. Stephen King's career as an author has been very long-lived indeed! This anthology of horror and suspense titles was itself published in 1978.

From Quiz Castles Between the Lines

Answer: Nancy Drew

The "Nancy Drew" series began in 1930; it was and is written by a team of writers collectively known as Carolyn Keene. "The Moonstone Castle Mystery" was published in 1963 and involves the mysterious gift of a moonstone, a missing girl, and the supposedly-haunted Moonstone Castle.

From Quiz The Great White Part 2: Waxen Words

Answer: White Teeth

Zadie Smith's 'White Teeth' won the Whitbread Book Award for best first novel and the James Tait Memorial prize for fiction, amongst other accolades. The main protagonists are a white Englishman named Archie Jones and his Bangladeshi best friend Samad Iqbal, who first met while fighting for Britain in the Second World War. The novel focuses on issues of intertwining race, religion and culture by tracing the connections between the two families across the generations. Question submitted by Fifiona81.

From Quiz Arithmetic By The Book

Answer: 20

Start with Hawthorne's "House Of Seven Gables" (an 1851 Gothic romance detailing the history of the Pyncheon family and their ancestral home). Add Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men In A Boat" (a humorous 1889 description of a two-week boat trip taken by Jerome, two friends, and Jerome's fox terrier, where more things seem to go wrong than could). Then add Graham Greene's "The Tenth Man" (a 1985 complicated tale of a prison camp bargain and its future results). [7 + 3 + 10 = 20.]

From Quiz Anonymous Title Characters in Books

Answer: Valentine

The title characters are Valentine and Proteus, noble young men of Verona and best friends. At the start of the play, Valentine departs for Milan, where he will serve at the Duke's court. Proteus has fallen in love with Julia, a local noblewoman. When in Milan, Valentine gets head over heels in love with Silvia, who is already betrothed to Thurio. Proteus follows Valentine to Milan, and he too falls for Silvia's charms. Now Proteus sets up a scheme that will lead to the downfall of Valentine, and Proteus hopes to get rid of Thurio as well. Julia misses Proteus and travels to Milan too, disguised as a boy. She arrives there just after Valentine has been sentenced to exile. After an encounter with several outlaws, rumour has it that Valentine died by the sword. Then Silvia leaves the city, aided by Sir Eglamour (a Milanese nobleman). The outlaws capture Silvia, and two groups chase them to their hideout: Proteus with Julia (still disguised as Sebastian), the Duke with Thurio. In the final, Valentine appears as head of the outlaws, Proteus threatens to duel Valentine, Sebastian faints and reveals to be none other than Julia, and the soldiers come to rescue the Duke. Thurio flees and a double marriage is celebrated: Valentine marries Silvia, and Proteus marries Julia.

From Quiz The Harder Three Clue Book Quiz

Answer: The Divine Comedy

"The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri is widely considered one of the greatest allegories of all time. Virgil meets a terrified, lost Dante in a dark woods on the night before Good Friday and conducts him through the ten levels or circles each of Hell and Purgatory. Beatrice, whom Dante adores, takes him through the 10 circles of Paradise. William Saroyan authored "The Human Comedy" about an Armenian family living in Ithaca, CA during the 1940s. "Black House" is a Stephen King/Peter Straub horror collaboration. Boccaccio wrote "The Decameron" in the 14th century. It is based on the stories of young people fleeing from the Black Death and finding themselves in need of entertainment.

From Quiz All the Stories Are Real

Answer: Into the Wild

"Into the Wild" actually discusses many adventurous travellers heading off into the wilderness for whatever reasons, but it focuses most of its story on Christopher McCandless, who actually did head to Alaska, living in an abandoned bus for nearly four months before dying, likely due to the consumption of poisonous seeds. Although based on a true story, Krakauer's account (and his retracing of McCandless' steps) can only be considered speculative due to the second-hand narrative. The story was adapted for film by Sean Penn in 2007; it was nominated for two Academy Awards.

From Quiz Title Waves

Answer: The Ox-Bow Incident

"The Ox-Bow Incident" was made into a 1943 movie starring Henry Fonda and Henry/Harry Morgan (aka Colonel Potter), which depicts lives 'hanging in the balance' in a small Western town in 1885. A mob must decide between violence and justice after they catch the three 'rustlers' who supposedly killed a local man. Unfortunately, there is no justice for the men who decided to take the law into their own hands. All of the other choices are Westerns too: "The Searchers" is a 1956 John Wayne vehicle; "High Noon" (1952) stars Gary Cooper; "Blazing Saddles" is a very funny Mel Brooks comedy.

From Quiz The Worldwide Wizards' Recommended Reads!

Answer: The Hunger Games

"The Hunger Games" is actually a trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins, and has been made into a bestselling film starring Jennifer Lawrence as the main character Katniss Everdeen. In the story, Northern America has been split into twelve Districts, and a Capitol. Each year, The Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each District to send into the arena. The last one standing is pronounced the victor, and is set for life. The reason the games exist is that years before, the Districts rebelled against the Capitol.

From Quiz What Does that Title Come From?

Answer: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog

Joyce's 1916 novel, 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man', is a 'Künstlerroman', or 'artist's novel', following the development of an artist who, like Joyce did himself, leaves Ireland for Europe. Thomas's use of the jokey title, 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog', for his 1940 selection of short stories, must have been referring to Joyce's book, despite his protestations to the contrary.

From Quiz The Worldwide Wizards' Recommended Reads!

Answer: The Hunger Games

"The Hunger Games" is actually a trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins, and has been made into a bestselling film starring Jennifer Lawrence as the main character, Katniss Everdeen. In the story, Northern America has been split into twelve Districts, and a Capitol. Each year, The Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each district to send into the arena. The last one standing is pronounced the victor, and is set for life. The reason the games exist is that, years before, the Districts rebelled against the Capitol.

From Quiz Beneath Your Beautiful

Answer: Jack London

"To Build a Fire" (1902,1908) by Jack London is a startling and gorgeous short story set, like many of London's tales, in the Yukon wilderness. The reader feels foreboding, but the man does not, as we follow him off the Yukon Trail into the brutal cold. Jack London spent only months in the Klondike, but said that there, "I found myself". "As he turned to go, he spat speculatively. There was a sharp, explosive crackle that startled him. He spat again. And again, in the air, before it could fall to the snow, the spittle crackled. He knew that at fifty below spittle crackled on the snow, but this spittle had crackled in the air..."

From Quiz Can You Find Your Pot of Gold?

Answer: Stephen Crane

The hero is Henry Fleming who flees from the scene of battle. He is ashamed of his cowardice and longs for a wound - "the red badge of courage" - to counteract it. Later he becomes his regiment's standard bearer. Crane's first novel was not very successful but "The Red Badge of Courage" was greatly acclaimed. He travelled to England where he became very friendly with Joseph Conrad and H.G.Wells. He died of tuberculosis in 1900.

From Quiz All You Need is a Good Book

Answer: Christian Bible

There is no definitive etymology for the naming of the Christian Bible as the "Good Book". The phrase has been around since at least the 19th Century as it is found in literature for that period. One theory is that the "good book" is a follow on from the similar colloquialism for the Christian bible of "Good News". "Good News" has a more defined etymology coming from the Greek euangélion ("good" + "messenger"). The Greek term was Latinized as "evangelium" and then into Old English as gôdspel or gospel (gôd "good" + spel "news"). The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient epic called the "Mahabharata". "Dianetics" is a modern book written by L. Ron Hubbard that forms the basis for Scientology, while the Bardo Thodol is a funerary text more commonly known as the "Tibetan Book of the Dead".

From Quiz Literary One-Hit Wonders

Answer: Black Beauty

"Black Beauty" is the tale of a high-bred horse who leads a difficult life pulling cabs in London. Sewell had been rendered lame from a childhood fall and had much difficulty getting around in her later years. This is when she wrote her only book. It was published in 1877.

From Quiz Butterflies and Hurricanes

Answer: Lion

Rumer Godden's "Butterfly Lions" was first published in 1977, and is all about the Pekingese dog and its significance at the Chinese Imperial Court over the years. "Butterfly Lion" (1996) by Michael Morpurgo is about a young boy who makes a pet of an albino lion cub, only to see it sold to a circus when he is sent away to school.

From Quiz Which Story Am I?

Answer: Sleeping Beauty

And how is this beautiful sleeping princess finally awoken? By the kiss of her one true love. Sigh...Oh Colin Firth, be mine.

From Quiz Original Titles of Famous Books

Answer: Pride and Prejudice

20 million copies sold worldwide. This is not Austen's only book with a different title from the first version. She called "Elinor and Marianne" the first draft of the novel that became "Sense and Sensibility".

From Quiz The Beagle Book Club!

Answer: Ivan

Ivan is similar in some respects to another one of Dostoevsky's great characters-Raskolnikov. Ivan sinks into madness as the book progresses. He feels guilt over his father's death, and how he planted the idea of murder into Smerdyakov's head. Contributed by mlipo.

From Quiz Who's #1?

Answer: Ulysses

Both "Ulysses" and "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" were written by James Joyce and include the character Stephen Dedalus; however, only "Ulysses" features Leopold Bloom. The book is set on June 16th, which is celebrated by Joyce fans as "Bloomsday."

From Quiz Colorful Titles

Answer: American Civil War

'Red Badge', published in the 1890s, was one of the first books to highlight that war was not only glory but that it also had its horrific side. Crane, born after the Civil War, also wrote a collection of poetry sarcastically named 'War is Kind'. Henry Fleming, the story's protagonist, is an 18 year old volunteer recruit in the Union Army. He describes in detail the feelings that he has upon seeing men shot and wounded and how civilized men may lose some of their own dignity during the horrors of war.

From Quiz Stranger Things Have Happened

Answer: Mark Twain

This unusual book which takes place in the dank dark Austrian winter of 1590 was Mark Twain's last novel. He wrote on this book for over 20 years but never finished it. It was meant to be a serious tale that looked at the dark side of humanity and the influence of Satan.

From Quiz Writing Wrongs

Answer: Lord of the Flies

Written by William Golding, "Lord of the Flies" recounts the story of a group of English schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island after a plane wreck. Gradually the veneer of civilization is stripped away from them and animal instinct takes over. Many regard this book as a classic, however, enough people didn't for it to make number 13 on the worst books list.

From Quiz Love, Literarily

Answer: Love in the Time of Cholera

"Love in the Time of Cholera" begins, "It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love." The novel was translated into English in 1988 and filmed in 2007. Author Márquez won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.

From Quiz Fiction By The Numbers

Answer: Charles Dickens

"A Tale of Two Cities" holds the record as the most printed English book, with over 200 million copies sold worldwide. The book was also a departure from Dickens' traditional writing, as it is only one of two historical fiction novels that he wrote (the other being "Barnaby Rudge").

From Quiz Literary Allusions in Literary Titles

Answer: The Old Testament Book of Proverbs

In the Authorized (King James) Version, Proverbs 11:29 reads: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart." The play has been produced on Broadway several times and has been adapted in four movie versions.

From Quiz A Book By Any Other Name

Answer: War and Peace

"War and Peace" is an epic novel which relates the history of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. "Anna Karenina" is also written by Leo Tolstoy. "Crime and Punishment" is by Fyodor Dostoevsky. "War, What is it Good For?" was featured in an episode of Seinfeld, where Jerry jokes that this was the title Tolstoy originally intended for his novel "War and Peace" - but this phrase really came from the lyrics of the song "War", an anti-Vietnam War protest song by Edwin Starr which was a hit in 1970.

From Quiz On My Bookshelf

Answer: Rich Man, Poor Man

"Rich Man, Poor Man" was made into one of the first very successful mini-series, back in 1976, and the New English Library version of the novel I have has 636 pages. "The Money Changers" was written by Arthur Hailey; "A Clash of Kings" was penned by George R. R. Martin; "Debt of Honour" was scribed by Tom Clancy.

From Quiz Title Characters No 2

Answer: Katharina, or Kate

Petruchio's penultimate speech in the play ("Why, there's a wench! Come on and kiss me, Kate!") provided Cole Porter with the title of his musical comedy centring on a production of the "Shrew."

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