201 Literature Trivia Questions (Ranked From Easiest to Hardest)

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201 Literature Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)

1. You get a book! You get a book! You get a book! For 15 years, starting in 1996, what daytime talk show megastar’s book club recommended a total of 70 books leading to total sales of over 55 million copies?
   
   Answer: Oprah Winfrey
   
   
2. The author of novels like "Snow" and "My Name is Red," Orhan Pamuk was the first Turkish person to win what prestigious literature award given out by the Swedish Academy? They also give out awards for medicine, chemistry, and peace.
   
   Answer: Nobel Prize
   
   
3. A young boy takes a train to the North Pole on Christmas Eve in what classic 1985 children's book by Chris Van Allsburg?
   
   Answer: The Polar Express
   
   
4. What classic Leo Tolstoy novel, first released serially from 1873-1877, tells the story of a titular woman and her affair with Count Vronsky? Keira Knightley played the title character in a 2012 movie adaptation directed by Joe Wright.
   
   Answer: Anna Karenina
   
   
5. The Shujing, Chunqiu, and Shijing are considered the foundations of the literary tradition in what country?
   
   Answer: China
   
   
6. In the classic 1957 children's book, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," what is the name of the town the Grinch steals holiday presents and decorations from?
   
   Answer: Whoville
   
   
7. While promoting his sprawling novel "Freedom" in 2010, Jonathan Franzen was the first American novelist to appear on the cover of Time magazine since what legendary horror writer in 2000?
   
   Answer: Stephen King
   
   
8. What is the name of the third book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer? Scientifically, this title signifies an occurrence in which an astronomical object is temporarily obscured.
   
   Answer: Eclipse
   
   
9. Literally the study of whales, "Cetology" is the title of the 32nd chapter of what lengthy American novel?
   
   Answer: Moby Dick
   
   
10. Iambic pentameter is a type of metric line used in English verse, most famously by William Shakespeare. While "iambic" describes the unstressed/stressed pattern of each two-syllable "foot," the word "pentameter" indicates that there are how many feet within a given line?
    
    Answer: Five
    
    
11. In "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," what magical country does the White Witch put a spell on so that it is always winter but never Christmas?
    
    Answer: Narnia
    
    
12. "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus," translated as "Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon," is the official motto for what fictional place of learning?
    
    Answer: Hogwarts
    
    
13. 20th century Georgian writer Flannery O'Connor is well-known for her short stories in the Southern Gothic style. Her most famous collection of stories was published in 1955 under the title "A Good M______ Is Hard to Find." What word fills in the blank?
    
    Answer: Man
    
    
14. Oakland, California features a neighborhood named after what author of "The Call of the Wild," who often frequented the area?
    
    Answer: Jack London
    
    
15. At the conclusion of an 1835 literary fairy tale, a small object is placed in a museum because of its critical role in finding a suitable princess to marry a prince. What is this object that was placed under dozens of mattresses earlier in the tale?
    
    Answer: Pea
    
    
16. Thestrals and Floo Powder are both forms of transportation invented by what internationally-renowned author?
    
    Answer: JK Rowling
    
    
17. What 1847 Emily Bronte classic deals with two West Yorkshire families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and in particular the adopted Earnshaw, Heathcliff? It was also a 1939 William Wyler film with Oscar-winning cinematography, starring Laurence Olivier and David Niven.
    
    Answer: Wuthering Heights
    
    
18. Henry David Thoreau wrote about life in the woods in Massachusetts in what iconic 1854 work of nonfiction literature?
    
    Answer: Walden
    
    
19. A large portion of what 2001 Yann Martel novel features the title character stranded on a lifeboat after a shipwreck with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker?
    
    Answer: Life of Pi
    
    
20. First appearing in the children's book "Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys", what is the most famous character created by H. A. and Margaret Rey?
    
    Answer: Curious George
    
    
21. Named after a London railway station, what fictional literary bear was originally a stowaway from "Darkest Peru?"
    
    Answer: Paddington Bear
    
    
22. The international publishing group Random House merged with what "aviary" publisher in 2013 resulting in a new, merged publishing conglomerate?
    
    Answer: Penguin Group
    
    
23. What color is the "badge of courage" in Stephen Crane's famous Civil War novel? The "badge" represents a battlefield wound.
    
    Answer: Red
    
    
24. “______, 1916” is a 1921 poem by William Butler Yeats about an uprising in Ireland against British rule. Fill in the blank, also a major Christian holiday.
    
    Answer: Easter
    
    
25. The Nike Literary Award (technically Nagroda Literacka Nike) is one of the most prestigious awards for literature in what European country? Past winners include Wieslaw Mysliwski, Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz, and Karol Modzelewski.
    
    Answer: Poland
    
    
26. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are the caretakers of what famed female protagonist played by Judy Garland?
    
    Answer: Dorothy Gale
    
    
27. Famed American author Louisa May Alcott lived in Boston for much of her life, but based her most famous novel on events from her childhood in Concord, MA. This novel about the March sisters had its eighth film rendition released in December 2019. What is this novel?
    
    Answer: Little Women
    
    
28. The Berenstain Bears (we know it's weird, but it is spelled that way) live in what interesting type of home?
    
    Answer: Treehouse
    
    
29. "The Cricket on the Hearth" is a holiday novel, not nearly as well known as "A Christmas Carol," by what British author?
    
    Answer: Charles Dickens
    
    
30. Not signifying someone smart with Lincolns, but rather a sewer-dweller, what is the name of the dancing clown in Stephen King's famed horror novel "It?"
    
    Answer: Pennywise
    
    
31. B.F. Skinner wrote a utopian novel in 1948, about an ideal place whose citizens are led to happier lives by structural implementation of behavioral psychology, called “______ Two.” Fill in the blank, also the one world title of Henry David Thoreau’s book about living the woods.
    
    Answer: Walden
    
    
32. "Dog doo good god!" is a sentence that reads the same backwards and forwards. This is an example of what literary device?
    
    Answer: Palindrome
    
    
33. What literary "S" term is intended to be both critical and humorous while poking fun at an institution or idea?
    
    Answer: Satire
    
    
34. Prolific author Carl Hiaasen wrote more than a dozen humor-inflected novels dealing with crime, environmentalism, and political corruption in his native Florida. In 2002, he made his first foray into young adult fiction with what four-letter owl-centric novel that was named a Newbery Medal honor book?
    
    Answer: Hoot
    
    
35. The Imagination Library is a free children's book gifting program started by what famous singer in 1995? The program started by offering a monthly book to each child in Sevier County, Tennessee regardless of family income.
    
    Answer: Dolly Parton
    
    
36. In Herman Melville's famous "Moby-Dick," what species of whale is the "white whale?" The name comes from the semi-liquid, waxy substance found within the whale's head.
    
    Answer: Sperm whale
    
    
37. Code-switching and police violence are major themes in what 2017 young-adult novel by Angie Thomas?
    
    Answer: The Hate U Give
    
    
38. What internationally-renowned British author coined the following secret phrase? "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
    
    Answer: JK Rowling
    
    
39. Two displaced migrant ranch workers are the dual protagonists of what 1937 novella with a title that starts with a preposition?
    
    Answer: Of Mice and Men
    
    
40. In the late 14th century, Dirc Potter van der Loo, lord of Waddinxveen, wrote a poem of Biblically based amorous adventures called “The ______ Of Love.” Fill in the blank with a “C” word, sometimes used to refer to a path or a particular educational class.
    
    Answer: Course
    
    
41. Jesse Andrews made his novel debut in 2012 with “Me and ______ and the Dying Girl.” Fill in the one word “E” blank, also a British title above viscount and below marquess.
    
    Answer: Me And Earl And The Dying Girl
    
    
42. In her novel "Bridget Jones's Diary," author Helen Fielding named love interest Mark Darcy after a character from what classic Jane Austen novel?
    
    Answer: Pride and Prejudice
    
    
43. Where does the Wizard live in The Wizard of Oz?
    
    Answer: The Emerald City
    
    
44. In his obituary in 1991, the New York Times said "English was too skimpy for his rich imagination." and that "his meter was irresistible." Who is this children's author?
    
    Answer: Dr. Seuss
    
    
45. What British author wrote the classic 1964 children's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?"
    
    Answer: Roald Dahl
    
    
46. Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against author Salman Rushdie after the publication of what 1989 novel that mocked the prophet Muhammad?
    
    Answer: The Satanic Verses
    
    
47. Aimed at an adult audience, the 1998 novel "Summer Sisters" is by what American author better known for children's and young-adult literature like "Superfudge" and "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret?"
    
    Answer: Judy Blume
    
    
48. What is the titular city in "Tales of the City," a classic work of queer literature published in 1978 by American author Armistead Maupin?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
49. The decade-long Trojan War was instigated by the eloping of a famous couple. With one guess, name either member of this couple.
    
    Answer: Helen and Paris
    
    
50. Mr. C. Hillegass, an employee at the Nebraska Book Company in 1958, started a series of study guides in his basement with his wife. Often associated with shirking homework assignments, what is the common name associated with these guides?
    
    Answer: CliffsNotes
    
    
51. Jack, Simon, Piggy, and Roger are four of the young characters that make up the cast in what 1954 novel?
    
    Answer: Lord of the Flies
    
    
52. Indian author Vikas Swarup wrote a 2005 novel titled "Q & A" involving a game show that was (loosely) adapted into a 2008 British film that later won the Academy Award for Best Picture. What was the name of the adaptation?
    
    Answer: Slumdog Millionaire
    
    
53. The ladies of Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club" meet to play what game with plum blossom and chrysanthemum tiles?
    
    Answer: Mahjong
    
    
54. The five categories in which Nobel Prizes are awarded are Peace, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology/Medicine, and what? Note that the Noble Memorial Prize in Economics does not count because it is technically a different reward.
    
    Answer: Physics
    
    
55. Dwalin, Smaug's Delight, and Thorin Oakenshield are sandwiches at a Houston cafe named for what 1937 novel?
    
    Answer: The Hobbit (There and Back Again)
    
    
56. What 1938 Daphne Du Maurier novel is about a woman who marries a wealthy widower, only to find that he and his house are haunted by the titular dead wife’s memory? A movie adaptation directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Joan Fontaine won the Best Picture Oscar in 1940.
    
    Answer: Rebecca
    
    
57. A monk Of Egmond who wrote a history of Holland in 1305, later published in 1591 as “Verse Chronicle”, was Melis ______. Fill in the last name, also an “S” verb for adding coal to a fire.
    
    Answer: Stoke
    
    
58. According to 18th-century satirist Jonathan Swift, "he was a bold man that first ate" what bivalve that comes in Bluepoint and Kumamoto varieties?
    
    Answer: Oyster
    
    
59. "Alarm Will HOWL," reads an emergency exit warning at a San Francisco museum dedicated to what mid-20th century literary movement?
    
    Answer: Beat
    
    
60. What 1995 coming-of-age comedy set in California is loosely based on Jane Austin's 1815 novel Emma?
    
    Answer: Clueless
    
    
61. What 1945 British novel depicting animalian life was often accompanied with the subtitle "A Contemporary Satire?"
    
    Answer: Animal Farm
    
    
62. What famously violent barber character was first introduced in "The String of Pearls" Victorian serial in 1846? The character also featured in a Tony award-winning musical and a 2007 film rendition.
    
    Answer: Sweeney Todd
    
    
63. The title character of what Charlotte Bronte novel asks Mr. Rochester, "Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?"
    
    Answer: Jane Eyre
    
    
64. What "phony" and "lousy" book by J.D. Salinger was Mark David Chapman holding when he killed John Lennon?
    
    Answer: Catcher in the Rye
    
    
65. The most notable brewery in literature might be the abandoned, rusted-over operation once run by Miss Havisham, the eccentric woman young Pip meets in what 1860 novel by Charles Dickens?
    
    Answer: Great Expectations
    
    
66. Although written under a "citrus-y" pen name, Daniel Handler was technically the author of a set of 13 books detailing the story of Sunny, Klaus and Violet Baudelaire and their struggles to escape their unpleasant circumstances. What is the name of this series? Oh, and here's a fun fact: each of the 13 novels includes a newly-discovered library as part of the plot. Again, we are looking for the name of the series, not the author's pseudonym.
    
    Answer: A Series of Unfortunate Events
    
    
67. What English writer was born Adeline Virginia Stephen in 1882 and is considered one of the most important 20th century modernist writers? She's also considered a pioneer of stream of consciousness writing, and wrote novels including "The Voyage Out" and "The Waves."
    
    Answer: Virginia Woolf
    
    
68. What was the profession of Marilyn Monroe’s last husband, Arthur Miller, who she divorced in 1961, a year before her death? Miller, meanwhile, did not die for another 44 years when he passed in Connecticut.
    
    Answer: Playwright
    
    
69. What education-related word has two distinct meanings both related to books? The first is simply an organized listing of books (often at the end of a piece of research) and the second is a more systematic description of books as physical objects.
    
    Answer: Bibliography
    
    
70. What author, famous for writing “The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish”, set her 2004 novel, “Hawkes Harbor”, in Delaware?
    
    Answer: S.E. Hinton
    
    
71. "Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!" is one of the most famous lines from what Shakespearean character?
    
    Answer: Lady Macbeth
    
    
72. "Going to the mattresses," or hiding out from enemies, was a term popularized by what 1969 Mario Puzo novel and its film adaptation?
    
    Answer: The Godfather
    
    
73. What American author, popularly known by a pseudonym, considered Hartford the most beautiful city in the United States and settled there to write what are considered his bildungsroman masterpieces? Coincidentally, this Missouri-born man lived next door to Harriet Beecher Stowe while in Hartford.
    
    Answer: Mark Twain
    
    
74. Likenesses of Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins splash in puddles in a Portland sculpture garden dedicated to what beloved childrens' lit author?
    
    Answer: Beverly Cleary
    
    
75. The winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal was ranked as the fourth best children's novel of all time by a 2012 US survey. What is this Lois Lowry-penned book which centers on protagonist Jonas's apprenticeship as his community's "Receiver of Memory?"
    
    Answer: The Giver
    
    
76. "Sanditon," which she began in 1817 but did not finish before she died the same year, was the last novel by what English author?
    
    Answer: Jane Austen
    
    
77. Which author wrote all her books (including Mrs. Dalloway) while standing?
    
    Answer: Virginia Woolf
    
    
78. One of the youthful finders of a golden ticket in Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was a "great big greedy nincompoop" 9-year-old from the fictional town of Dusselheim, Germany. Who is this?
    
    Answer: Augustus Gloop
    
    
79. Widely considered the best-selling true crime book in history, what 1974 book was co-written by the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson? The work shares its name with a Beatles song considered influential in the evolution of heavy metal music.
    
    Answer: Helter Skelter
    
    
80. A "cranioectomy" on Violet Baudelaire is attempted for a live audience in an operating theater in the eight installment of what morbidly funny series of children's books?
    
    Answer: A Series of Unfortunate Events
    
    
81. "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" are the only two novels by an English author who was the younger sister of Charlotte and Emily Brontë. What was her first name?
    
    Answer: Anne (Brontë)
    
    
82. The town of Pepin, Wisconsin is home to a museum honoring what author of the Little House books, most famously "Little House on the Prairie"?
    
    Answer: Laura Ingalls Wilder
    
    
83. What classic literary villain, described as a “Machiavellian schemer and manipulator” shares his name with an avian sidekick in the Disney film "Aladdin?"
    
    Answer: Iago
    
    
84. What Canadian author, poet, and environmentalist with a "forested" name reached new levels of fame in 2017 after her award-winning 1985 dystopian political novel was released as a smash-hit television series on Hulu?
    
    Answer: Margaret Atwood
    
    
85. What famous poet who went by his initials stated: "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons"? Well-known works include "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land."
    
    Answer: T.S. Eliot
    
    
86. First mentioned in "The Goblet of Fire," what is the name for a magically enchanted object in the Harry Potter universe that allows for the apparition-less transportation of multiple people at once upon touching the object?
    
    Answer: Portkey
    
    
87. Since 2011, author George R.R. Martin has been working on the sixth installment of his A Song of Ice and Fire series, a novel alliteratively titled The Winds of ______. What word fills in the blank?
    
    Answer: Winter
    
    
88. During his embassy days in Rome, 14th and 15th century Dutch erotic poet-slash-diplomat Dirc Potter van der Loo found inspiration for his epic poem "The Course of Love" in the works of what saucy Florentine "Decameron" writer?
    
    Answer: Giovanni Boccaccio
    
    
89. What 1937 book with a four-word title by Napoleon Hill, which purports to teach the secrets that can make you wealthy, has been called "the granddaddy of all motivational literature?"
    
    Answer: Think and Grow Rich
    
    
90. Reminiscent of something that might be used by someone with alopecia, what was the name of the snowy owl which Harry Potter received as an eleventh birthday present from Hagrid?
    
    Answer: Hedwig
    
    
91. What famed Boston author of "Little Women" was previously taught by Henry David Thoreau and even penned him a poem titled "Thoreau's Flute?"?
    
    Answer: Louisa May Alcott
    
    
92. "Little Women" is typically considered an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel based on the 19th century life of what American author?
    
    Answer: Louisa May Alcott
    
    
93. A famous fictional member of the Army Air Forces is Capt. John Yossarian, a 28-year-old World War 2 bombardier in what Joseph Heller satirical novel?
    
    Answer: Catch 22
    
    
94. The previously domestic Buck channels his feral instincts and ends up killing others as he ascends to the role of pack leader in what Jack London novel?
    
    Answer: The Call of the Wild
    
    
95. What New England-born poet was famously prolific, but having written nearly 1,800 poems had fewer than a dozen published during her lifetime? Famous poems include "Because I could not stop for Death" and "Tell all the truth but tell it slant."
    
    Answer: Emily Dickinson
    
    
96. What epic John Milton poem, first published in 1667, concerns the fall of Lucifer from Heaven, and Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden?
    
    Answer: Paradise Lost
    
    
97. What author created the child protagonist who promptly explains his nickname to the reader in the following manner? “My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip.”
    
    Answer: Charles Dickens
    
    
98. Johannes Gutenberg gets oodles of history book credit, but in fact there is clear documentation that movable type was invented 400 years earlier (circa AD 1045) in what country?
    
    Answer: China
    
    
99. What science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut published in 1969 opens with the line, “All this happened, more or less”?
    
    Answer: Slaughterhouse-five
    
    
100. Although her life tragically ended at the age of 30, what American poet and short-story writer is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for collections such as "The Bell Jar?" She posthumously won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for her collected poems.
     
     Answer: Sylvia Plath
     
     
101. What 2014 Liane Moriarty novel is set in Australia, although its HBO TV adaptation moved the setting to Monterey, California?
     
     Answer: Big Little Lies
     
     
102. What is the title of the popular book and recent TV series about two families living in 1990s Shaker Heights that opens with a family home catching fire?
     
     Answer: Little Fires Everywhere
     
     
103. What famously witty American, who occasionally went by the pen name of Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, wrote the following line to describe early-model, "high-wheeler" bicycles? "Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
     
     Answer: Mark Twain
     
     
104. What American novelist was born in 1931 and is known for her prolific writings including "The Bluest Eye," "Song of Solomon," and "Beloved?" That last book was made into a 1996 movie produced by Oprah Winfrey. This Ohioan won both a Nobel Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
     
     Answer: Toni Morrison
     
     
105. Stonehead McGurney and Sir Harry the Muse are owls in what colorfully-named fantasy novel series by Brian Jacques?
     
     Answer: Redwall
     
     
106. According to ancient Greek literature, Argos, the dog of what wayward king of Ithaca, died of joy after seeing his master for the first time in decades?
     
     Answer: Odysseus
     
     
107. The O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) are a set of standardized tests in the wizarding world that are traditionally taken at Hogwarts at the end of which school year?
     
     Answer: Fifth year
     
     
108. According to the Harry Potter books, how many total balls are used in a standard Quidditch match?
     
     Answer: Four
     
     
109. Justin Trudeau has a bachelor of arts degree in literature from what school?
     
     Answer: McGill University
     
     
110. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons are the famous writer-artist pair behind what graphic novel that is frequently considered the magnum opus of its medium? In fact, it was the only graphic novel to appear on Time's 2005 list of the "All-Time 100 Greatest Novels" list.
     
     Answer: Watchmen
     
     
111. Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky are both characters in what classic work of European literature? The book was partially released in serial format as "The Year 1805" and was published in its entirety in 1869.
     
     Answer: War and Peace
     
     
112. Fittingly, considering its definition, what literary term has roots in the Greek words for both "sharp" and "dull?"
     
     Answer: Oxymoron
     
     
113. Presidential candidate Andrew Jarrett uses the slogan "Make America Great Again" in "The Parable of the Talents," a 1998 dystopian novel by what sci-fi author?
     
     Answer: Octavia E. Butler
     
     
114. What novel begins with the following line?“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like …”
     
     Answer: The Catcher in the Rye
     
     
115. "Hello, goodbye" was the greeting of the Tralfamadorians in what novel by Kurt Vonnegut?
     
     Answer: Slaughterhouse Five
     
     
116. In 1832, at the age of 21, a member of a prominent religious family moved to Cincinnati to join her father, who had become the president of a theological seminary. Her religious conviction, progressive inclinations, the recently-passed Fugitive Slave Act, and the death of her own 18-month-old-son were said to be key influences for one of the most influential novels in American history. What is this novel?
     
     Answer: Uncle Tom's Cabin
     
     
117. What acclaimed children's author and poet spent much of his career as a cartoonist for Playboy and also wrote songs for the 1960s folk scene?
     
     Answer: Shel Silverstein
     
     
118. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was an animal character created by Rudyard Kipling in his anthology "The Jungle Book." What type of animal is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi?
     
     Answer: Mongoose
     
     
119. French citizens have won it a record 16 times, but this year Annie Ernaux became the first female French recipient of the Nobel Prize in which category?
     
     Answer: Literature
     
     
120. What famed children's author said the following? "I answer all my children's letters – sometimes very hastily – but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, 'Dear Jim: I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said: 'Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received."
     
     Answer: Maurice Sendak
     
     
121. Experiences with a commanding officer in World War II helped Richard Adams form the character of Hazel the rabbit, in what 1972 novel?
     
     Answer: Watership Down
     
     
122. What author, who is far more famous for creating another character of page and screen, wrote the novel "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in 1964? Many of the characters this author created were known by a single letter or a number.
     
     Answer: Ian Fleming
     
     
123. J.K. Rowling is rumored (and has since denied) to have written the first part of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” on what uncommon writing surface?
     
     Answer: a napkin
     
     
124. What Roman emperor from 161 to 180, who was also a Stoic philosopher, wrote the book “Meditations?” These self-explorations helped him guide and improve himself, and is used as a tool for leaders to this day.
     
     Answer: Marcus Aurelius
     
     
125. Typically priced between five and 25 cents, small paperback books sent by mail were extremely popular in the early 20th century and known by what monetary name?
     
     Answer: Dime novels
     
     
126. 1982 saw the release of “The Little Drummer Girl”, about an English actress who is drawn into a plot to help capture a Palestinian terrorist. This book was written by what by British novelist, famed for his espionage novels such as “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”
     
     Answer: John Le Carre
     
     
127. What is the name of the narrator in "The Great Gatsby?" This man's last name sounds a bit like departing while holding an object.
     
     Answer: Nick Carraway
     
     
128. In Cervantes's iconic work "Don Quixote," who is Quixote's companion who regularly quotes proverbs and rides a donkey?
     
     Answer: Sancho Panza
     
     
129. Elisha Otis wouldn't approve of the meditation techniques used in Colson Whitehead's novel "The Intuitionist" to inspect what pieces of infrastructure?
     
     Answer: Elevators
     
     
130. Lilly “Shug” Avery is the free-spirited singer known for both her beautiful voice and scandalous lifestyle for the 1930s American South (specifically, Georgia) in what award-winning epistolary novel by writer Alice Walker?
     
     Answer: The Color Purple
     
     
131. The term "robot" was introduced in what form of literature (novel, play, short story, article, book, poem) by Czech writer, Karel Capek, in 1920?
     
     Answer: Play
     
     
132. A classic of LGBTQ literature, "Orlando: A Biography" is a 1928 novel by what British author who also wrote "A Room of One's Own?"
     
     Answer: Virginia Woolf
     
     
133. What "cold-blooded" American author wrote the short story "A Christmas Memory" about making fruitcakes from scratch in Alabama?
     
     Answer: Truman Capote
     
     
134. Set just before the American Revolution, what Newbery-winning Esther Forbes novel's title character is a silversmith's apprentice who takes part in the Boston Tea Party?
     
     Answer: Johnny Tremain
     
     
135. What author wrote "I'm right and you're wrong, I'm big and you're small, and there's nothing you can do about it?" In the 1996 movie adaptation of the novel, the line was uttered by actor-director Danny Devito.
     
     Answer: Roald Dahl
     
     
136. Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexei are the three familial title characters in what 1879 novel?
     
     Answer: The Brothers Karamazov
     
     
137. Although more well-known for his fiction and character creations, what famous author was also an ophthalmologist? He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in the 1870s, was a determined supporter of compulsory vaccination, and partially based his most famous character on a former university teacher.
     
     Answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
     
     
138. Although he was not able to speak English fluently until his mid-twenties, this Polish-British writer is often considered one of the great masters of the English language. He helped popularize the concept of an anti-hero, frequently featured nautical settings, and wrote both "The Secret Agent," "The Secret Sharer," and "The Heart of Darkness." Who is this author?
     
     Answer: Joseph Conrad
     
     
139. ______ is the part of the sentence that contains a verb, and it typically consists of both a subject and a predicate. What word six-letter word fills in the blank?
     
     Answer: Clause
     
     
140. Although he published over 60 books under a different name, who published 13 books under the name Theo LeSieg and one book under the name Rosetta Stone?
     
     Answer: Dr. Seuss
     
     
141. What Shakespearean play, in which two couples wind up marrying, coined a modern day term for an unnecessary dispute?
     
     Answer: Much Ado About Nothing
     
     
142. "Bless Me, Ultima" is a famous coming-of-age novel by Rudolfo Anaya centering on a young Antonio and his mentor Ultima along with her pet owl. The book is one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed novel in the Chicano literary canon. In what U.S. state is the book set?
     
     Answer: New Mexico
     
     
143. What 2014 bestseller by Emily St. John Mandel opens with a performance of "King Lear," in which the death of the actor playing Lear is one of the first in an apocalyptic swine flu pandemic?
     
     Answer: Station Eleven
     
     
144. What is the one-word title of the Detroit-centric Pulitzer Prize-winning 2002 novel written by Jeffrey Eugenides that is largely a bildungsroman and family saga centered on the intersex protagonist Cal Stephanides?
     
     Answer: Middlesex
     
     
145. Because it was the setting for many of her stories, the city of Eatonville, Florida hosts an annual festival dedicated to her. She's often considered a central figure of the Harlem Renaissanc and 1937's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" remains the most popular of her 50+ published works. Who is she?
     
     Answer: Zora Neale Hurston
     
     
146. "The Fire Next Time," "If Beale Street Could Talk," and "Giovanni's Room" are all books by what acclaimed Black American author that spent most of his professional life in France rather than the U.S. due to the racial discrimination he faced in the U.S.?
     
     Answer: James Baldwin
     
     
147. What novel traverses a century of the Buendías while surfacing the tales of seven generations of the Latin American family?
     
     Answer: 100 Years of Solitude
     
     
148. The 1965 science fiction novel "Dune" was the winner of the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and was considered at one point as the world's best-selling science fiction novel. It is also being adapted into a film with a scheduled 2020 release. Who authored this work?
     
     Answer: Frank Herbert
     
     
149. Named in part for the color of the Confederate flag, what is the name of the Scarlett and Rhett's child in "Gone with the Wind?"
     
     Answer: Bonnie
     
     
150. Who wrote “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” in his poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn?”
     
     Answer: John Keats
     
     
151. The 1999 novel "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier was inspired by a painting with the same title by what Dutch artist?
     
     Answer: Johannes Vermeer
     
     
152. What writer's works were printed over 100 million times by 2000, leading to the unusual honor of having a new dinosaur species after him?
     
     Answer: Michael Crichton
     
     
153. What man committed suicide at the age of 31 and posthumously won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction after his mother doggedly convinced a publisher to print his novel "A Confederacy of Dunces"?
     
     Answer: John Kennedy Toole
     
     
154. “Samuel Spade’s jaw was long and bony” is the first line of what famous detective novel with a bird's name in the title?
     
     Answer: The Maltese Falcon
     
     
155. In 1971, John Gardner wrote a novel from the perspective of what monster from an ancient British poem? In the British poem, the hero was eventually killed by a monster known simply as “______’s Mother.”
     
     Answer: Grendel
     
     
156. Lake Wobegon is a fictional, small rural town created by what famous Midwestern author and storyteller?
     
     Answer: Garrison Keillor
     
     
157. What classic kiddie-lit book by Virginia Lee Burton features title characters who are a construction worker and a piece of construction equipment he calls Mary Anne?
     
     Answer: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
     
     
158. The title character works as a maid at Talbothays Dairy in the third part of what 1891 novel by Thomas Hardy?
     
     Answer: Tess of the D'Urbervilles
     
     
159. What Latina and Chicago native wrote "Caramelo," a novel about a Mexican-American family in Chicago who takes an annual road trip to visit their “Awful Grandmother” in Mexico City?
     
     Answer: Sandra Cisneros
     
     
160. Bigger Thomas, a young Black man living in poverty in Chicago in the 1930s, is the title character of what novel by Richard Wright?
     
     Answer: Native Son
     
     
161. Rachel Verinder wears the titular gem to her birthday party and loses it the same evening at the start of what 1868 novel by Wilkie Collins?
     
     Answer: The Moonstone
     
     
162. Considered a partially fictional autobiography by Charles Dickens, what are the two words missing from this well-known literary title of the 19th century? "The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of ______ ______ the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery."
     
     Answer: David Copperfield
     
     
163. The impolite, unpleasant Katherina is referred to metaphorically by the name of a small mammal in the name of what Shakespeare play?
     
     Answer: The Taming of the Shrew
     
     
164. Although it sounds like a friendless novel about a critical human organ, Carson McCullers's 1940 debut novel is actually about an isolated misfit in a Georgia town. What is the novel?
     
     Answer: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
     
     
165. Truman Capote's famous non-fiction work "In Cold Blood" describes a burglary and grisly quadruple murder by Richard Hickock and Perry Smith in what state?
     
     Answer: Kansas
     
     
166. The son of a literature professor and a dancer/choreographer, Cage has family roots in the movies through his uncle. What famous director is the brother of Nicolas Cage's father?
     
     Answer: Francis Ford Coppola
     
     
167. Molly Bolt's coming of age is the focus of what 1973 classic of LGBTQ literature by Rita Mae Brown?
     
     Answer: Rubyfruit Jungle
     
     
168. What repetitively named William Faulkner novel is told as a series of flashbacks from narrator Quentin Compson to his roommate at Harvard?
     
     Answer: Absalom, Absalom!
     
     
169. What author earned his MD in California and practiced medicine for a decade before his breakout novel allowed him to pursue writing full time? The 2003 novel followed the story of a young Afghan boy Amir. We're looking for the name of the author, not the book.
     
     Answer: Khaled Hosseini
     
     
170. What famed British poet had the middle name Bysshe? In fact, his first, middle, and last names all contained the letter "Y."
     
     Answer: Percy Bysshe Shelley
     
     
171. Sometimes considered the quintessential novel of the 1980s, what NYC-set satirical work centered on greed, racism, and social class through the lens of a lawyer, investment banker, and journalist? The book's title is a reference to an actual 1497 conflagration.
     
     Answer: The Bonfire of the Vanities
     
     
172. Set in the Indian state of Kerala, what "divine" 1997 debut novel by Arundhati Roy won a Man Booker Prize?
     
     Answer: The God of Small Things
     
     
173. An experience as a young seaman being captured in the South Pacific by cannibals and imprisoned for mutiny inspired material for what American author for his future maritime fiction?
     
     Answer: Herman Melville
     
     
174. The name of which punctuation mark is Greek for "together?"
     
     Answer: Hyphen
     
     
175. What Boston neighborhood was home to Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost, and Louisa May Alcott for portions of their lives? Alcott published her first story while living in the neighborhood while Plath and Frost lived here later in life.
     
     Answer: Beacon Hill
     
     
176. "The Pittsburgh Cycle" consists of ten plays about the Black American experience, including "Fences" and "The Piano Lesson," by what playwright?
     
     Answer: August Wilson
     
     
177. What American novelist is well-known for his sparse use of punctuation and once claimed that to use quotation marks is to "blot the page up with weird little marks?" This author is associated with the Southern Gothic, Western, and post-apocalyptic genres.
     
     Answer: Cormac McCarthy
     
     
178. What Anthony Horowitz-created character is sometimes referred to as a “Teenage James Bond?” He is the main character in a series of books that starts with “Stormbreaker.”
     
     Answer: Alex Rider
     
     
179. Charles and Caroline Ingalls, the parents from the “Little House on the Prairie” series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, are buried in which northern state, which also served as the setting for the last 5 books in the series?
     
     Answer: South Dakota
     
     
180. The collective name for owls is parliament. This noun arose because of a description of a meeting of owls in what author's works?
     
     Answer: C.S. Lewis
     
     
181. Considered one of the innovators of creative nonfiction via New Journalism, what American author's best-known work "The Executioner's Song" won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for fiction? This "postal" author also ran in the Democratic primary for NYC's mayoral race of 1969 with a platform including the secession of New York City as the 51st US state.
     
     Answer: Norman Mailer
     
     
182. Orleanna Price and her four daughters (Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May) are living in the Belgian Congo near the Kwilu River in what 1998 award-winning novel by Barbara Kingsolver?
     
     Answer: The Poisonwood Bible
     
     
183. Author John Green set his tearjerking 2012 bestseller, "The Fault in Our Stars," in what state capital that is also Green's hometown?
     
     Answer: Indianapolis
     
     
184. Adapted into a 2020 Netflix film, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is one of the ten plays about the Black American experience known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, by what playwright?
     
     Answer: August Wilson
     
     
185. The most famous work of what Roman poet born in 43 BC begins "My intention is to tell of bodies changed to different forms?"
     
     Answer: Ovid
     
     
186. What 13-letter German loanword means a novel that focuses on the psychological and personal growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood?
     
     Answer: Bildungsroman
     
     
187. "Hell is other people" is the most famous line to come out of what Sartre play about three sinners trapped together forever?
     
     Answer: No Exit
     
     
188. Although it is set in Harlem, New York City, what 1974 novel by James Baldwin has a title that refers to a thoroughfare in Memphis, Tennessee?
     
     Answer: If Beale Street Could Talk
     
     
189. Set on the fictional Australian sheep station of Drogheda, what 1977 novel by Colleen McCullough was adapted into a miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward?
     
     Answer: The Thorn Birds
     
     
190. Although this Thomas Pynchon novel was considered one of the "All-Time Greatest 100 Novels" by Time, the 1974 Pulitzer Prize jury on fiction was offended by its content, some of which was described as "unreadable, overwritten, and obscene." What is this two-word novel?
     
     Answer: Gravity's Rainbow
     
     
191. "A Raisin in the Sun," the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, opened in March 1959. The author was a 29-year-old woman who won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. Name the author.
     
     Answer: Lorraine Hansberry
     
     
192. What language, in which "doubleplusungood" means "very bad," does the government of Oceania use to establish thought control in George Orwell's novel "1984?"
     
     Answer: Newspeak
     
     
193. What author penned the best-selling 21st century NYC novel "Let the Great World Spin"?
     
     Answer: Colum McCann
     
     
194. What 20th century Cuban poet was a rebellious critic of the Cuban government and Fidel Castro? His books include “Before Night Falls” and “El Color Del Verano.”
     
     Answer: Reinaldo Arenas
     
     
195. Fittingly, what is the name of the hero of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" who flees from the City of Destiny to the Celestial City?
     
     Answer: Christian
     
     
196. Born in Cambridgeport, MA, the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism wrote "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" which is often considered the first major feminist work in the United States. Who was this native New Englander?
     
     Answer: Margaret Fuller
     
     
197. "A Visit from the Goon Squad" won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and intersected across characters and formats while the titular "goon squad" was simply time itself. What woman penned this novel?
     
     Answer: Jennifer Egan
     
     
198. In what 1995 poem did Maya Angelou declare, "Pretty women wonder where my secret lies / I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size?"
     
     Answer: Phenomenal Woman
     
     
199. What native Minnesotan won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel “Main Street”?
     
     Answer: Sinclair Lewis
     
     
200. Mrs. Rupa Mehra is determined to arrange her daughter's marriage in what nearly-1500-page Vikram Seth novel set in a newly independent India?
     
     Answer: A Suitable Boy
     
     
201. Featuring Bette Midler’s Grammy-winning rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings," the 1988 tear-jerking film "Beaches" is based on what author’s namesake novel released in 1985?
     
     Answer: Iris Rainer Dart
     
     

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