Book Notes Plus is a wonderful blog written by library patron Gerald Lively. Check it out! Here is the April quiz from his blog, which we encourage you to visit:
You remember Trivial Pursuit don’t you? It was a board game created in 1979 by a Canadian named Chris Haney. It contained six categories of questions, one of which was Arts and Literature. The first 22 questions below are based on that category in the original game. Questions 23 through 35 are based on the Trivial Pursuit Book Lover’s Edition (2004) which I also own. The six categories in that edition are: Beloved Children’s Books, Popular Classics, Riveting Non-Fiction, Book Club Favs, Favorite Authors, and Book Bag Surprises. You will probably find the questions from the Book Lover’s Edition much harder than those from the original Trivial Pursuit. You can find the answers to all 35 questions on my Quiz Answers page.
1) What are the first three words in the Bible?
2) What is the last word in the Bible?
3) What does a librocubicularist do?
4)Who is Sherlock Holmes smarter (or at least older) brother?
5) What 1956 novel by Grace Metalious was on the best-seller list for two years, and (for extra credit) what was the name of its 1961 sequel?
6) What best-selling cookbook was penned by Irma Rombauer and illustrated by her daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker?
7) What 1960s self-help book was aimed at people who wanted to feel OK?
8) What George Bernard Shaw play inspired the Broadway musical My Fair Lady?
9) What word was printed on the lower right-hand corner of the front cover of Life magazine’s final weekly issue (December 29, 1972)? (You can see an image of the cover in my post of the answers to this month’s quiz.)
10) What book was the basis for the 1975 film Three Days of the Condor?
11) What was Lady Chatterley’s first name?
12) What epic poem by Homer chronicles events near the end of the Trojan War?
13) What’s the magic cave-opening phrase in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves?
14) Which immortal Spanish and English writers died on April 23, 1616?
15) What was Captain Ahab’s peg leg made of?
16) Who wrote the 1957 best-seller Kids Say the Darndest Things?
17) What Henri Charriere best-seller describes his escape from Devil’s Island?
18) Who was the first novelist to present a typed manuscript to his publisher?
19) Who, beginning in 1908, wrote a total of 54 western novels?
20) Who is the most-translated English author after Shakespeare?
21) What playwright had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1966?
22) What U.S. president’s mother wrote an autobiography titled Times to Remember?
23) Name the 1991 novel by James Michner about the publishing business that is told from the points of view of the writer, the editor, the critic, and the reader.
24) What 1965 Thomas Pynchon novel introduces a heroine named Oedipa Maas?
25) Who took time off from writing tales of the high seas to pen Picasso: A Biography and Joseph Banks: A Life?
26) What John Fowles novel brings a Hollywood writer back to Oxford to bury a college friend?
27) What novelist and philosopher was known as Alyssa Rosenbaum in her native St. Petersburg before changing her name when she moved to America?
28) What quadriplegic sleuth uses police officer Amelia Sachs as his “legs and eyes” in a number of Jeffrey Deaver thrillers?
29) What Barbara Robinson children’s book describes what happens when “the worst kids in the history of the world” misinterpret the Christmas story?
30) What incendiary how-to book did author William Powell later renounce as “a misguided and potentially dangerous publication”?
31) What Mark Medoff play features a teacher at a school for the deaf engaged in a sign-language battle of wits with a defiant kitchen maid?
32) What detective from Michael Connelly’s books was named after a 15th century Flemish painter?
33) What novel did Sylvia Plath initially publish under the pen name “Victoria Lucas,” because she felt it wasn’t a serious work?
34) Which fictional spy was based on decorated Scottish World War II commando Patrick Dalzel-Job?
35) What type of dog is Tock, who wears a clock face on his side, in The Phantom Tollbooth?
