Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "The Necronomicon" is a fictional book created by horror author H.P. Lovecraft. Who, according to Lovecraft, wrote this evil tome?
2. This unfinished novella by Herman Melville is the story of a sailor charged, convicted, and executed for murder.
3. Stephen King seems to write a lot of books that start with 'C'. Which of these novels is not a King creation?
4. Kathy Reichs created the character Temperance "Bones" Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who solves crimes in a series of at least twelve books and has had a television series ("Bones") created for her. Which was the first book in this series?
5. The award for best mysteries of the year is named after the author widely credited with creating the mystery story. What is this award given by the Mystery Writers of America?
6. This man, one of the greatest characters in all of Shakespeare's plays, was somewhat...um...overweight. In fact, Prince Hal in "Henry IV, Part One" says "______ sweats to death/ And lards the lean earth as he walks along./ Were't not for laughing, I should pity him." Who is this gargantuan character?
7. In Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", which one of these characters was the last to possess the One Ring?
8. C.S. Forester created this character who starred in eleven books about the British Navy during Napoleonic times.
9. Which word is missing in all these book titles; "The _____ of Fu Manchu". "Shutter _____". "_____ of the Sequined Love Nun".
10. This author, who served in World War II and was wounded on Guadalcanal, wrote "From Here to Eternity" and "The Thin Red Line".
11. This 1989 Elmore Leonard novel was made into a movie starring Thomas Jane, Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke, which was released straight to DVD on May 26, 2009.
12. When this author died in 1988, he or she had 105 books in print and was one of the most popular writers in the world. Which author is it?
13. "The Thorn Birds" is a 1977 classic romance novel, telling a story of forbidden love in Australia. It was later made into an extremely high-rated miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward. What is the last name of the author who wrote the book?
14. A comic novel (with some more serious elements) by Charles Dickens (his third novel), this 1839 serial contains the wonderfully-named character Wackford Squeers.
15. Charles Dickens was the most popular novelist of the Victorian era, and created dozens of characters who have entered the pantheon of All-Time Greats. His works have been made into films, radio plays and this musical play that premiered in the West End in 1960.
16. This Christian allegory by John Bunyan was published in 1678.
17. This character from Melville's "Moby-Dick" was an islander from Kokovoko in the South Seas, and was the harpooner on Starbuck's boat. His coffin plays an important part at the end of the book, when it saves Ishmael from drowning.
18. What is the common first name for all these crime writers?: Barnard, Crais, Parker, van Gulik and Harris.
19. This book by Rachel Carson helped usher in the environmental movement and was instrumental in getting DDT banned in the United States in 1972. What was the book's name?
20. The modern master of 'alternate history' has written books about the South winning the Civil War ("The Guns of the South"), Japan occupying Hawaii during WWII ("Days of Infamy") and the Byzantine Empire not falling ("Agent of Byzantium"). Which avian name does this writer have?
21. The Italian author Eco wrote "The Name of the Rose" (or "Il nome della rosa"), which was a surprise hit in America in 1983, spending 23 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. What is Eco's first name?
22. This book, Nicholson Baker's first New York Times bestseller (in 1992), consists of a phone-sex conversation between two protagonists. It was supposedly given as a gift to President Bill Clinton by Monica Lewinsky.
23. Ezra Pound called this man "America's poet... He is America." Harold Bloom said "If you are American, then _____ is your imaginative father and mother, even if, like myself, you have never composed a line of verse. You can nominate a fair number of literary works as candidates for the secular Scripture of the United States. They might include Melville's Moby-Dick, Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Emerson's two series of Essays and The Conduct of Life. None of those, not even Emerson's, are as central as the first edition of Leaves of Grass".
Who wrote "Leaves of Grass"?
24. William Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1949 and is one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century. He set many of his stories and novels in this Southern county.
25. "World War Z" is a 2006 novel by Max Brooks detailing life after an apocalypse. What does the 'Z' in the title stand for?
Source: Author
john_sunseri
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
agony before going online.
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