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First Lines Trivia Quiz

First lines are important in any book; they are there to grab you, and to leave you wanting more. In this quiz, I will give you the first line, or lines; all you have to do is give the book's title. O.K. I'll name the writer as well. Makes it easy, yes

A multiple-choice quiz by ArthurR. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
ArthurR

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
335,548

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
558

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. In a book by Leo Tolstoy, the first line is "Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." What's the book? Hint

War and Peace

Family Happiness

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Anna Karenina

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." From which book, by George Orwell, is this the opening line? Hint

Keep the Aspidistras Flying

Animal Farm

Nineteen Eighty-Four

The Road to Wigan Pier

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Franz Kafka wrote, as opening lines, "Someone must have slandered Joseph K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested." What is the title of the book?

Hint

The Trial

The Metamorphosis

The Castle

Amerika

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. "The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new". Samuel Beckett wrote this first line in what book?

Hint

Watt

Malone Dies

Molloy

Murphy

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Anne Tyler opens her book with the line "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person." What book is this then? Hint

Breathing Lessons

Ladder of Years

Morgan's Passing

Back When We Were Grownups

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there". L.P.Hartley wrote this as the first line in what book? Hint

My Fellow Devils

The Go-Between

The Hireling

The Betrayal

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. There is a book by Dodie Smith that opens with the line "I write this sitting in the sink". What's the title?
Hint

I Capture the Castle

Tale of Two Families

The Hundred and One Dalmatians

The Midnight Kittens

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad". Rafael Sabatini wrote these words a few years ago, but what book do they open? Hint

The Lions Skin

Scaramis

The Black Swan

Scaramouche

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. The opening words of a book by Jean Rhys are "They say when trouble comes, close ranks, and so the white people did". And the title is? Hint

Good Morning, Midnight

Voyage in the Dark

Wide Sargasso Sea

Postures

10. Terry Pratchett opens one of his books with the words "'Why is it,' Tiffany Aching wondered, 'That people liked noise so much? Why was noise so important?'" Which book starts with this query? Hint

The Wee Free Men

Wintersmith

A Hat Full of Sky

I Shall Wear Midnight

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In a book by Leo Tolstoy, the first line is "Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." What's the book?

Answer: Anna Karenina

Tolstoy one of the greats of Russian literature. Born into a family of Russian aristocrats in September 1828, his full name was Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. The title of Count had been conferred on his ancestor in the early 18th century by Peter the Great.

2. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." From which book, by George Orwell, is this the opening line?

Answer: Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), born in Motihari, Bengal, India. His mother was the daughter of a tea-merchant, and his father a civil servant in the opium department. Orwell once got himself arrested as a drunk, to have some knowledge about life in prison. He was released after 48 hours.

3. Franz Kafka wrote, as opening lines, "Someone must have slandered Joseph K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested." What is the title of the book?

Answer: The Trial

Franz Kafka was born July 1883 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria (which was then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire). Apart from a few short stories, he had the distinction that none of his novels were printed during his lifetime. Contrary to his instructions, that his unprinted manuscripts be destroyed upon his death, his friend Max Brod had them published, and therefore brought about his fame.

4. "The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new". Samuel Beckett wrote this first line in what book?

Answer: Murphy

Born in Dublin, in 1906, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. His wife Suzanne died in Paris during July 1989, he died in December the same year. Both are interred together in the "Cemetiere du Montparnasse" in Paris. The granite gravestone follows Beckett's instructions that it be "any colour, so long as it's Grey"

5. Anne Tyler opens her book with the line "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person." What book is this then?

Answer: Back When We Were Grownups

Anne was born 1941, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Tyler family moved several times to find the ideal place to raise their children. In 1948, when Anne was 6, the Tylers found the Celo Community, near Burnsville, in the mountains of North Carolina, a community based on the ideals of cooperation between residents and care for the natural environment. The community still survives today.

6. "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there". L.P.Hartley wrote this as the first line in what book?

Answer: The Go-Between

Leslie Poles Hartley, was born in Cambridgeshire, yet attended university in Oxford. The opening sentence, "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there", has become almost proverbial

7. There is a book by Dodie Smith that opens with the line "I write this sitting in the sink". What's the title?

Answer: I Capture the Castle

Dorothy Gladys Smith (1896-1990) was born in Whitefield, near Bury, Lancashire. She is best known for her novel "The Hundred and One Dalmatians", which was adapted into the Disney film "One Hundred and One Dalmatians." A film version of her novel "I Capture the Castle" was released in 2003.

8. "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad". Rafael Sabatini wrote these words a few years ago, but what book do they open?

Answer: Scaramouche

Rafael Sabatini born illegitimate, to an Italian father and an English mother. His parents were opera singers. A prolific writer, he produced 31 novels, 8 short story collections and 6 non-fiction books. As a youngster he was exposed to many languages. He once said that the reason he wrote in English was "because all the best stories are in English".

9. The opening words of a book by Jean Rhys are "They say when trouble comes, close ranks, and so the white people did". And the title is?

Answer: Wide Sargasso Sea

She was born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams in 1890 in Roseau Dominica, to a Welsh Father, and a third generation Creole of Scottish ancestry. She attended the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge. When asked in an interview shortly before her death, whether any novelist could ever be happy, she replied "If I could choose I would rather be happy than write". She died in Exeter in 1979.

10. Terry Pratchett opens one of his books with the words "'Why is it,' Tiffany Aching wondered, 'That people liked noise so much? Why was noise so important?'" Which book starts with this query?

Answer: I Shall Wear Midnight

My favourite author. Born in 1948, as of August 2010 Terry has sold more than 65 million books world wide. He once said, "Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself".

I feel that when he leaves us, he will take with him a complete library of unwritten books.

Source: Author ArthurR

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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