Bookquiz

Denerick

Simple enough concept really. Ask a question related to any author/book and see if you can answer it...

I'll start. Who first published Fahrenheit 451?

BossArky

You mean the author or the publisher?

Answer: Author --> Ray Bradbury.

Denerick

No the publisher. If I was asking the name of the author I would have asked for the name of the author

Anyway, it was first published by Hugh Hefner AKA, Playboy man. Not really that surprising when you think about it! Someone else set the ball rolling.

Locamon

Denerick wrote: »

No the publisher. If I was asking the name of the author I would have asked for the name of the author

Anyway, it was first published by Hugh Hefner AKA, Playboy man. Not really that surprising when you think about it! Someone else set the ball rolling.

Shouldn't you just confirm the question and wait until someone gets it right?

Name the author, recently in the news, who was denounced from the altar by her parish priest when her first book was published and the same priest invited everyone to bring their copies to the churchyard for a public burning?

Denerick

Locamon wrote: »

Shouldn't you just confirm the question and wait until someone gets it right?

Name the author, recently in the news, who was denounced from the altar by her parish priest when her first book was published and the same priest invited everyone to bring their copies to the churchyard for a public burning?

J.K. Rowling? (Lazy guess)

Locamon

Denerick wrote: »

J.K. Rowling? (Lazy guess)

Unfortunately not....but if they were first published in the same decade as this author I bet they would have been burned in the churchyard too:D

randomguy

That'd be Edna O'Brien, I'd say. Guessing the book was the Country Girls.

Locamon

randomguy wrote: »

That'd be Edna O'Brien, I'd say. Guessing the book was the Country Girls.

Correct...that would pass the next question to you:)

randomguy

Name the writer who wrote a series of novels for teenagers about a young boy, whose mother is dead, who discovers that he has magical powers and goes off to boarding school to train to be a wizard. We then follow his career as he fights evil and the forces of darkness, grappling with issues of black magic and his own power, until after adventures and escapades he matures from being a callow kid to a wise wizard.
One important clue - the writer is an american woman.

randomguy

While people are trying to work out the one above (I think I picked a question that can't be googled anyway) here's another one - this time if you want to cheat you just might be able to google it.

What writer connects Anthony Blunt, Copernicus and Malcolm MacArthur?

randomguy

Have I made them too hard? Maybe the following will help.

Clues:
The female writer was born in California and lives in Portland Oregon - the main character in the trilogy I was referring to has a few names, one of which is sparrowhawk.

The second writer is an Irish male, and as well as novels narrated by fictionalised characters based on Anthony Blunt (one of the Cambridge spies) and Malcolm MacArthur (the GUBU murderer), he has written novels about some famous renaissance physicists as well as a novella about a letter to the inventor of the 3 laws of motion.

dave13

The second one is John Banville anyway.

lemon_sherbert

randomguy wrote: »

Clues:
The female writer was born in California and lives in Portland Oregon - the main character in the trilogy I was referring to has a few names, one of which is sparrowhawk.

It's Ursula LeGuin I do believe, with the Earthsea Trilogy (which now has 5 books) - these were my favourite books as a kid. Kudos on the Harry Potter misdirection:p

randomguy

Ares wrote: »

The second one is John Banville anyway.

Correct

lemon_sherbert wrote: »

It's Ursula LeGuin I do believe, with the Earthsea Trilogy (which now has 5 books) - these were my favourite books as a kid. Kudos on the Harry Potter misdirection:p

And correct. I read the original 3 as a kid and loved them. Reread the first one recently and it wasn't bad at all.

To keep things moving, how about if each of ye throw a question in, so that there are 2 questions on the go at once?

lemon_sherbert

Hmm, it's hard to know whether this is easily guessed or not...

In which novel does Becky woo Rawden in search of riches?

EDIT: No joy with this yet, so I'm adding:

The novel has another prominent set of lovers; Amelia and Georga

Lizzykins

Vanity Fair?

lemon_sherbert

Lizzykins wrote: »

Vanity Fair?

Correct! Your turn

Lizzykins

Who was Jane Eyre's aunt who sent her to the awful bording school?

gogo

Aunt Reed?

Lizzykins

Right! Your turn now!

gogo

Ok, after reading the best opening lines thread...

"All children, except one, grow up" is the opening line from which famous book?

Try not google.

randomguy

gogo wrote: »

"All children, except one, grow up" is the opening line from which famous book?

Peter Pan

gogo wrote: »

Try not google.

And I promise I didn't use google at all until I'd got it. Had been thinking Huckleberry Finn, then Dracula, then something like Virgin Suicides, and it hit me (I watched Finding Neverland again recently). Only googled "peter pan" to see if I was right.

randomguy

Name the writer associated with each of the following fictional places:
(11 writers in total)

Wessex
Castle Rock
Haddam, New Jersey
Deptford
Monument (clue: it represents Waterford)
Barchester in Barsetshire
Oceania
Macondo
Rummidge
Ballybeg
Coketown

randomguy

randomguy wrote: »

Name the writer associated with each of the following fictional places:
(11 writers in total)

Wessex
Castle Rock
Haddam, New Jersey
Deptford
Monument (clue: it represents Waterford)
Barchester in Barsetshire
Oceania
Macondo
Rummidge
Ballybeg
Coketown

I was really proud of this question, but it looks like it wasn't as interesting as I thought. And I thought people would get the first 2 straight away.
No takers for any of them??? Anyone... anyone... anyone

Hermy

randomguy wrote: »

I was really proud of this question, but it looks like it wasn't as interesting as I thought. And I thought people would get the first 2 straight away.
No takers for any of them??? Anyone... anyone... anyone

It's a very interesting question - but I'm damned if I know the answers.
Sorry.:o

EDIT: Just used the interweb to help me and it seems I should have known a few of these.

randomguy

Ok then, I'll give a clue of a character or two who lived in or visited each place as well

Wessex -

Jude Fawley (yeah, might be a bit obscure)

Castle Rock -

Gordie La Chance, Leland Gaunt, Cujo the dog

Haddam, New Jersey -

Frank Bascombe

Deptford -

Dunstan Ramsay, Boy Staunton

Monument (clue: it represents Waterford) -

Charles Conduit, Jack Santry

Barchester in Barsetshire -

Dr. Thorne

Oceania -

Winston Smith

Macondo -

Jose Arcadia Buendia, Remedios

Rummidge -

Phillip Swallow, Vic Wilcox and Robyn Penrose

Ballybeg -

Gar O'Donnell, the Mundy sisters, Yolland and Manus

Coketown -

Gradgrind and Bounderby

turgon

Charles Dickens! Coketown was the givaway.

Ok name the author who killed himself, whos father killed himself, whos brother killed himself , whos sister killed herself and whos granddaughter killed herself.

Pretty gruesome!

Blush_01

I saw Deptford and immediately thought Michelle Magorian - and what is possibly my favourite children's book ever. I'm a bit out of my depth here I think!

randomguy

turgon wrote: »

Charles Dickens! Coketown was the givaway

It's 11 different (and unconnected) writers I was looking for. You're right on Coketown, though - Hard Times.

turgon wrote: »

Ok name the author who killed himself, whos father killed himself, whos brother killed himself , whos sister killed herself and whos granddaughter killed herself.

Pretty gruesome!

I know this one, but I seem to be hogging this thread, so I am not saying anything. Funnily enough, my flickr actually has a photo or two of a former residence of his.

pica

Ernest Hemingway?

turgon

pica wrote: »

Ernest Hemingway?

Yep!

I just assumed, having only read two dickens' books, that they were all places in his other texts.

Lizzykins

I think Wessex is Thomas Hardy and Barchester is Anthony Trollope but the others are a mystery!

randomguy

Wessex - Thomas Hardy set all of his novels, including Jude the Obscure, here - it is a real area in the south of England, but isn't really a County. He also invented names for cities in the area (eg Casterbridge for Dorchester, Melchester for Salisbury).

Castle Rock - Stephen King set most of his early novels in or around Castle Rock, Maine. (including Cufo and the novella The Body, which became the film Stand by Me).

Haddam, New Jersey - Richard Ford has Frank Bascombe residing there in The Sportswriter and Independence Day. In the third book of the trilogy, The Lay of the Land, he goes back to visit it I think.

Deptford - The Deptford trilogy is the masterpiece of Robertson Davies, Canada's best writer. Fifth Business, the first book of the trilogy, is highly-recommended.

Monument is Waterford as re-imagined by Peter Cunningham, an often overlooked irish writer - (Tapes of the River Delta, Consequences of The Heart and Love in One Edition make up the Monument trilogy)

Barchester in Barsetshire - Anthony Trollope invented this city and set his Chronicles of Barsetshire there, including Dr Thorne and Barchester Towers.

Oceania - In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith lives in London in the superstate of Oceania.


Macondo - Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude all takes place in this one town - I thought someone would get this because it is a common name for trendy restaurants in Latin America.

Rummidge - David Lodge re-invented Birmingham as Rummidge in a lot of his novels.

Ballybeg - Brian Friel set most of his plays here. Gar is leaving Ballybeg in Philadelpia Here I Come. Translations and Dancing at Lughnasa are set here as well.

Coketown - fictional grim northern city setting for Dickens' Hard Times.

randomguy

Another question:

Name the anglo-irish author who wrote a classic spy novel about Germany invading Britain (and said he wrote it out of an Englishman's "natural sense of duty" to his country and empire), then used his famous boat to run arms into Dublin for the Irish Volunteers, helped out Sinn Fein, hung out with Michael Collins but was shot by the Irish Free State forces when he took Dev's side in the Civil War.

His novel is still considered the archetypal English spy novel.

Denerick

randomguy wrote: »

Another question:

Name the anglo-irish author who wrote a classic spy novel about Germany invading Britain (and said he wrote it out of an Englishman's "natural sense of duty" to his country and empire), then used his famous boat to run arms into Dublin for the Irish Volunteers, helped out Sinn Fein, hung out with Michael Collins but was shot by the Irish Free State forces when he took Dev's side in the Civil War.

His novel is still considered the archetypal English spy novel.

Erskine Childers!

(Self appointed history buff )

randomguy

Denerick wrote: »

Erskine Childers!

(Self appointed history buff )

That's him. Over to you. Try to make it ungoogleable...

Denerick

randomguy wrote: »

That's him. Over to you. Try to make it ungoogleable...

I didn't google that, it was the only question on this so far I've been able to answer.

Alright, here's an easy one which is googleable but please don't do that everyone... thats a bit pointless.

Who was the first American author to win the nobel prize for literature?

randomguy

Denerick wrote: »

I didn't google that, it was the only question on this so far I've been able to answer.

Wasn't suggesting you did at all. It's just that i've been trying to make my questions really hard to google so no-one would be tempted.

Denerick wrote: »

Who was the first American author to win the nobel prize for literature?

I've been wracking my brain and not getting anywhere. Hemingway was post WW2. F Scott Fitzgerald didn't get one, did he? Faulkner maybe? Or a playwright - Eugene O'Neill won one but i've no idea if that is 30s, 40s or 50s? When you say first american author, does it mean it's not a poet or playwright?

Denerick

[quote=randomguy;60387290
I've been wracking my brain and not getting anywhere. Hemingway was post WW2. F Scott Fitzgerald didn't get one, did he? Faulkner maybe? Or a playwright - Eugene O'Neill won one but i've no idea if that is 30s, 40s or 50s? When you say first american author, does it mean it's not a poet or playwright?[/quote]

I'll give you a hint; They are all good guesses and by rights all of them probably should have got one at this stage. The author is a novelist, and was known then as one of the foremost social satirists of the day. And no, it isn't Mark Twain

Denerick

Very tempted to come out and say it because its someone I wouldn't have guessed of in a million years. I've only read one of his books and I across the snippet of information somewhat by accident. Some more hints maybe...

'Roaring Twenties' author
Critical of the American Dream
Writes in a breezy, character driven style

godspal

Sinclair Louis, I think.

Why did Samuel Beckett refuse to accept his Nobel Prize?

Denerick

godspal wrote: »

Sinclair Louis, I think.

Why did Samuel Beckett refuse to accept his Nobel Prize?

It was indeed Sinclair Lewis...

I wasn't aware he had rejected it though I know he was uneasy about accepting it, something to do with the fame that would follow. Not sure though.

godspal

Denerick wrote: »

It was indeed Sinclair Lewis...

I wasn't aware he had rejected it though I know he was uneasy about accepting it, something to do with the fame that would follow. Not sure though.

sorry your right, a bit of confusion there... he felt indebted to Joyce and made a big deal about him not getting the prize himself, however he still accepted! WHOOPS!

okay, okay...
A new question then, who helped T.S. Eliot write/edit The Wasteland?

godspal

godspal wrote: »

sorry your right, a bit of confusion there... he felt indebted to Joyce and made a big deal about him not getting the prize himself, however he still accepted! WHOOPS!

okay, okay...
A new question then, who helped T.S. Eliot write/edit The Wasteland?

It wasn't Erza Pound, no?

In War and Peace, in whose house was Natasha staying in when Anatole Kuragin had arranged to "kidnap" her and elope?

randomguy

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

In War and Peace, in whose house was Natasha staying in when Anatole Kuragin had arranged to "kidnap" her and elope?

No offence, but that's a pretty crap question. On the other hand, the question above (from Denerick i think) about the first American to get the Nobel prize for literature, was really good.

The difference? In yours, only someone who has read War and Peace would even have a chance of knowing it. And even amongst people who have read it, you are asking if they can remember something obscure rather than asking for something that they are likely to remember (and that's not only because I read it 15 years ago and haven't got a clue). Unless there is some huge significance to who it is (ie it's Napoleon's House, or the Tsar's house) it can't be guessed, and probably won't be remembered.

An ideal question is of interest to most people, can at least be guessed at by most people, but will only be known by a few people. A crap question is one where only very few people can even make a stab at it. You want everyone almost getting it.

A decent enough question:
Who is the only person to have won both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize for literature?

Another ok question:
What film, based on a very famous book, is the longest film to have won an Oscar?

I forgot I had posted in this thread.

Yah, you're right. It's an absolutely terrible question; it's far too specific. I guess I tried to take the notion of ungoogleability too far.

Here, this might be better:

Which (very famous) book ends in the lines:

"They hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way."

(P.S. the answer to your second question is War and Peace I think. I don't know about the first though).

randomguy

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

(P.S. the answer to your second question is War and Peace I think. I don't know about the first though).

Yeah, you're right, War and Peace again. A slightly tricky question, because a lot of people think it is Gone with the Wind, also based on a famous book, but that is only the longest film to win the Best Picture Oscar. And people might think it is The Greatest Story Ever Told, which is based on a famous book (The Bible) and was originally longer than either of these i think, but it didn't win any Oscars.

You've got me on the quote, though. Good question.

Denerick

"They hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way."

Milton, Paradise Lost. Just after finishing it

Please put the following combination of ideologies Conor Cruise O' Brien embraced in certain stages of his life, in order of the date of his publications. (I'm alphabetizing them here, just for the sake of argument)

Socialism, Unionism, Zionism.

(This is either a boring or an easy question, but I can't think of a better one...)

turgon

Socialism then Zionism then Unionism??

Ok, a really easy one to get this restarted:
Name the two authors that fought in the Spanish Civil War and that subsequently published books based on it. Extra points: name the books.

godspal

Ernest Hemmingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls
George Orwell - I don't the name of the book... soemthing about.

McCarthism, the Ambassador, Viz comics and Some Like it Hot. All of these things are connected together in some way by one American literary figure, name that figure.

Once again extra points for figuring out how this figure is connected to them.

turgon

Correct on both counts; Orwell's book is Homage to Catalonia.

I dont have a clue about your question :pac: