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Quiz about The HowTo Guides in Literature

The "How-To" Guides in Literature Quiz

Some books are really instruction manuals for certain things. See if you can guess the title of the real book based on what it might be called if it were an instruction manual.

A multiple-choice quiz by lck423. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
lck423

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
109,749

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
1553

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. "How To Keep Your Head Night-After-Night While Your Deadbeat Husband Listens In". For what book might this be an alternate title? Hint

The Canterbury Tales

The Pickwick Papers

The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

The Thousand and One Nights

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Question 2 of 10

2. "Dictatorships For Dummies" is probably more familiar under what original title?

Answer: (Two words, think Machiavelli)

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Question 3 of 10

3. "A Step-By-Step Manual On How NOT To Treat Your House Guests". Before it was transformed into a "How To" manual, what was this Shakespearian play's title? Hint

Hamlet

Macbeth

Romeo and Juliet

The Tempest

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Question 4 of 10

4. By what name do we know the collection of stories that could be described as "How To Scare The Pants Off Your Kids When You Read To Them At Night"? Hint

"Winnie The Pooh" (A.A. Milne)

"Grimms' Fairy Tales" (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)

"Where The Sidewalk Ends" (Shel Silverstein)

"The Indian In The Cupboard" (Lynne Reid Banks)

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Question 5 of 10

5. "How To Be A Broke Beatnik In Paris" could be the subtitle for which of these books? Hint

"David Copperfield" (Charles Dickens)

"Love in the Time of Cholera" (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

"West with the Night" (Beryl Markham)

"Tropic of Cancer" (Henry Miller)

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Question 6 of 10

6. "How To Survive The Spanish Inquisition" could be an alternative title for which of these Edgar Allan Poe stories? Hint

The Fall of the House of Usher

The Raven

The Pit and the Pendulum

Annabelle Lee

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Question 7 of 10

7. Which of these books might be subtitled "How To Pass The Time While Sitting In Jail"? Hint

"The Black Cat" (Edgar Allan Poe)

"Robinson Crusoe" (Daniel Defoe)

"Atlas Shrugged" (Ayn Rand)

"Mein Kampf" (Adolf Hitler)

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Question 8 of 10

8. "How To Really Irritate All The Puritanical Hypocrites In A Small New England Town" could be the name of a "How To" manual based on which of the following works? Hint

"Fahrenheit 451" (Ray Bradbury)

"The Way of All Flesh" (Samuel Butler)

"Dragons of Eden" (Carl Sagan)

"The Scarlet Letter" (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

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Question 9 of 10

9. On which book might the "How To" manual "How To Pull A Practical Joke on Unsuspecting Students Who Have This Book On Their Required Reading List" be based? (Talking rabbits, honestly...) Hint

"To Kill A Mockingbird" (Harper Lee)

"A Separate Peace" (John Knowles)

"The Hobbit" (J.R.R. Tolkien)

"Watership Down" (Richard Adams)

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Question 10 of 10

10. Which of Shakespeare's plays could have been subtitled "A User's Guide For Dressing In Drag"? Hint

Twelfth Night

Hamlet

The Tempest

A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "How To Keep Your Head Night-After-Night While Your Deadbeat Husband Listens In". For what book might this be an alternate title?

Answer: The Thousand and One Nights

As the story goes, "The One Thousand and One Nights" were told by Scherezade to her new husband as a method of delaying her own death. She told these stories to her husband every night, but always ending on a cliff-hanger. Her husband, so eager to hear the end of the story, would postpone her death until she finished it.

Naturally, she kept repeating the process night after night until finally, he wised up and decided that "hmmmmm..., maybe I should keep her".

2. "Dictatorships For Dummies" is probably more familiar under what original title?

Answer: The Prince

"The Prince" by Machiavelli is pretty much the Standard Operating Procedure for any would-be dictators out there.

3. "A Step-By-Step Manual On How NOT To Treat Your House Guests". Before it was transformed into a "How To" manual, what was this Shakespearian play's title?

Answer: Macbeth

Emily Post would most certainly frown upon Lady Macbeth's treatment of her house guests. After all, plotting and committing murder is something that Miss Manners would consider poor form. It's almost as bad as passing port wine to the left instead of the right.

4. By what name do we know the collection of stories that could be described as "How To Scare The Pants Off Your Kids When You Read To Them At Night"?

Answer: "Grimms' Fairy Tales" (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)

"Grimm' Fairy Tales", contrary to the glossed-over Disney versions, are pretty violent and graphic. For instance, in the familiar story of "Cinderella", one of the step-sisters actually cuts off her own toes to get her foot to fit inside the glass slipper. Sweet dreams!

5. "How To Be A Broke Beatnik In Paris" could be the subtitle for which of these books?

Answer: "Tropic of Cancer" (Henry Miller)

"Tropic of Cancer" concerns the life and times of Henry Miller, a penniless beatnik writer who lived in Paris.

6. "How To Survive The Spanish Inquisition" could be an alternative title for which of these Edgar Allan Poe stories?

Answer: The Pit and the Pendulum

"The Pit and the Pendulum" concerns a man who has been imprisoned during the Spanish Inquisition. He is put in a cell where the gaping pit in the middle, and the swinging pendulum overhead, are his two biggest, shall we say, concerns.

7. Which of these books might be subtitled "How To Pass The Time While Sitting In Jail"?

Answer: "Mein Kampf" (Adolf Hitler)

Hitler wrote the first volume of this book while he was imprisoned.

8. "How To Really Irritate All The Puritanical Hypocrites In A Small New England Town" could be the name of a "How To" manual based on which of the following works?

Answer: "The Scarlet Letter" (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Really, if you want to upset all of those 'holier-than-thous' in town, what better way than by having an illicit affair?

9. On which book might the "How To" manual "How To Pull A Practical Joke on Unsuspecting Students Who Have This Book On Their Required Reading List" be based? (Talking rabbits, honestly...)

Answer: "Watership Down" (Richard Adams)

Sorry, I know this is a favorite with some people, but really...

10. Which of Shakespeare's plays could have been subtitled "A User's Guide For Dressing In Drag"?

Answer: Twelfth Night

Viola dresses as a boy through most of this hilarious play.

Source: Author lck423

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