Take this Famous First Words Quiz! Average Trivia | Literary Terms & Quotes

Answer: Homer - "The Iliad"

Homer allegedly was the author of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" poems, but little to nothing is known about him, or if he ever really existed.
"The Iliad" is the epic of the siege and eventual fall of Troy.
"The Odyssey" is the story of how one of the besiegers, Odysseus, took ten years and many adventures to get home.
"The Batrachomyomachia" is a collection of poems also attributed to Homer, though they are probably of a later date.
"The Simpsons" is a modern-day tragedy written by Matt Groening.

Answer: Ovid- "The Metamorphoses"

Another work Ovid is famous for is the "Ars Amatoria", the art of loving. Most poems I have struggled to translate were however out of "The Metamorphoses", relaying myths, in many of which a person or god changes shape, often quite spectacularly. His "Ars Amatoria" got him in trouble with Augustus, however, who banished him to the Black Sea because his poems offended the establishment in Rome...
Kafka's "Metamorphosis" is the author's bad trip description of waking up and finding himself in the form of a giant cockroach.
Darwin's "The Origin of Species" are his published notes from his voyage to amongst other places the Galapagos Islands, where he witnessed first-hand specialization traits in species of birds, tortoises etc. This book caused a bit of a stir, and still does...
Newton also wrote about bodies, but more on the attraction and repulsion thereof.

Answer: Shakespeare- "Antony and Cleopatra"

The usual story: Boy meets girl, boy's best friend falls in love with girl, world war erupts.
The rest are also books by Bill.

Answer: Dante-"Inferno"

In Dante's "Inferno", Dante describes himself being led around the circles of hell by Virgil. Nice bed-time reading.

Answer: De Sade-"The 120 days of Sodom or the School of Freedoms".

Marquis Donatien Alphonse François de Sade's "120 days" is without a doubt the most horrible book I've ever read. In it, four rich men gather in a castle for 120 days, to immerse themselves in every decadency imaginable, most of it sexual, and most of it incredibly cruel. In a cool, methodical way, de Sade lists and categorizes the depravities the four friends indulge in. The book as published is only a draft he made in 37 days whilst in prison. He lost it, and lamented its loss greatly. It was to be his magnum opus.
The other books were also banned:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The Social Contract" was not well received by the French authorities due to its unorthodox views on politics. In it, he claims that true followers of Jesus would not make good citizens.
In 1930, U.S. Customs found Voltaire's "Candide" too obscene to allow into the United States.
Pascal's "The Provincial Letters" was not only banned, but even shredded and burned by order of King Louis XIV, because it attacked popular Catholic and Jesuit beliefs at the time.

Answer: Dostoevsky-"Crime and Punishment"

Based on Dostoevsky's own terrible time in Czarist Russia's prisons; he describes in this book not only those experiences but also the overall climate of unrest and desperation felt by the Russian people. Very good book.

Answer: Poe-"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"

This Poe character wrote quite some stories. I wanted to add Winnie the Poe, but I did not have enough space.
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is generally considered to be the first modern detective story. It certainly is the first locked-room detective story.
"The Purloined Letter" features the same protagonist, detective Auguste Dupin, solving another unsolvable mystery.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" hopefully is well-known to you all. If not, go read it, it's only three pages long!
"The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq." is one of Poe's lesser known writings; besides detectives and horror stories, he also wrote satires of which this is one. Probably quite hilarious if you lived in Poe's time, but it has proved not to be one of his longer lasting claims to fame.

Answer: Wilde-"The Picture of Dorian Gray"

This is an excellent book. Go read it. No, really. Nearly every line of it is worthy of being a Quote of the Day.
This specific first line is of the Preface, which was not included in the very first publication of the book. This Preface ends with the famous quote: "All art is quite useless."

Answer: Wells-"The Time Machine"

This should be an easy one. Is there anyone out there who has not read Wells' "The Time Machine" or has seen one of the films? Twain's "Connecticut Yankee" is far better read than seen.
Jules Verne's book does not deal with time travel.
Guthrie's book is the first one that I know of to deal with the paradoxes time travel could cause.

Answer: Conan Doyle-"The Adventure of the Boscombe Valley Mystery"

These stories are all from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". But it was very hard to find a story that did not mention its protagonist in the first line. "Bohemia" starts with: "To Sherlock Holmes she is always *the* woman." The first line of the "League" is: "I had called upon my friend, Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair." And "Identity" begins as follows: "'My dear fellow,' said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker-street, 'life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.'" And those are just the first four stories. Of the remaining stories, six start with a sentence containing "Holmes", two do not. Mr. Conan Doyle wanted to make sure his readers knew who this was going to be about!