Friday, February 10, 2006

Literary "First Lines "Quiz -- Number One

It has long been a popular trivia game for bibliophiles, trying to identify a novel or poem from its first line. I thought I’d give you a Book Den version of the old game every once in awhile. Here’s the first. You’ll find a few very easy ones and a few that will certainly be a bit tougher but I think all will be fun -- and they just might stimulate you to return to some of the classic books of your past.

And yes, the answers are located at the end of the quiz. We use the honor system here!

1. “This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve.”

a) Jane Eyre by Charolotte Bronte

b) Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

c) Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

2. “Now, what I want is, Facts.”

a) Hard Times by Charles Dickens

b) Walden by Henry David Thoreau

c) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

3. “All children, except one, grow up.”

a) Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

b) Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

c) Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

4. “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.”

a) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

b) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

c) A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

5. “Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about this.”

a) The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

b) The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

c) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

6. “Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy.”

a) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

b) The Mouse That Roared by Leonard Wibberley

c) The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

7. “Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.”

a) Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

b) The Godfather by Mario Puzo

c) The Hand in Glove by Rex Stout

8. “The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail.”

a) Moby Dick by Herman Melville

b) Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

c) Jaws by Peter Benchley

9. “At a village of La Mancha, whose name I do not wish to remember, there lived a little while ago one of those gentlemen who are wont to keep a lance in the rack, an old buckler, a lean horse and a swift greyhound.”

a) The Call of the Wild by Jack London

b) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

c) Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

10. “As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and, as I slept, I dreamed a dream.”

a) Vanity Fair by William Thackery

b) The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

c) Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Answers:

1) C

2) A

3) A

4) B

5) C

6) A

7) B

8) C

9) C

10) B