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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. In 1983, Prince recorded "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" for a bestselling 1984 album. Alice Walker became the first Black woman to win a literature Pulitzer for a novel that inspired a Whoopi Goldberg movie and Broadway musical. Walker's novel and Prince's album both name-dropped what regal color?
Answer: Purple
3. 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
4. In what classic work of children's literature do the characters Mike, Veruca, Violet, Augustus, and Charlie get a tour of a confectionery manufacturing facility?
Answer: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. 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
6. What 1897 novel sees Abraham Van Helsing chasing down the title character in his namesake castle in modern-day Romania?
Answer: Dracula
7. Thomas Harris's 1981 novel "Red Dragon" marks the first appearance of what dubious serial killer who was famously portrayed by Anthony Hopkins a decade later?
Answer: Hannibal Lecter
8. The Shujing, Chunqiu, and Shijing are considered the foundations of the literary tradition in what country?
Answer: China
9. While promoting his sprawling novel "Freedom" in 2010, Jonathan Franzen was the first American novelist to appear on the cover of TIME since what legendary horror writer in 2000?
Answer: Stephen King
10. 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
11. Literally the study of whales, "Cetology" is the title of the 32nd chapter of what lengthy American novel?
Answer: Moby-Dick
12. Agatha Christie's "By the Pricking of My Thumbs" and Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" are two novels who take their titles from lines in what Shakespeare play?
Answer: Macbeth
13. 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
14. Following the life and times of eight siblings from the wealthy and prominent titular family, what 19th-century-set romance novel series written by Julia Quinn was transformed into a Shonda Rhimes-produced Netflix series in 2020?
Answer: Bridgerton
15. What was the name of the snowy owl which Harry Potter received as an 11th birthday present from Hagrid?
Answer: Hedwig
16. Named one of the 88 “Books that Shaped America” by the Library of Congress in 2012, Robert A. Heinlein’s 1961 sci-fi novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” explores the adventures of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who was born on what planet that’s the fourth from the Sun?
Answer: Mars
17. Marjane Satrapi tells her story of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in what acclaimed series of graphic novels, which is named after an ancient Iranian city?
Answer: Persepolis
18. Twentieth 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” what” Is Hard to Find?"
Answer: Man
19. 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
20. 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
21. "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus," translated as "Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon," is the official motto for what fictional place of learning?
Answer: Hogwarts
22. Which New York neighborhood gives its name to the literary and cultural "Renaissance" movement of the 1920s that celebrated African American art, music, and literature?
Answer: Harlem
23. In 1994, Bill Gates paid over $30 million for “The Codex Leicester”—a very, very, very old collection of scientific writings by what artist who was more well-known for a painting of a woman he did, but was actually quite a skilled anatomical sketch artist?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci
24. 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
25. 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
26. What place name completes the title of Maryse Conde's 1986 novel "I, Tituba, Black Witch of” where, which is a fictional reimagining of historical events that took place there 300 years earlier?
Answer: Salem
27. It is a truth universally acknowledged that what Jane Austen novel anagrams to CUPID AND JEEP RIDER?
Answer: Pride and Prejudice
28. What holiday “1916” is a 1921 poem by William Butler Yeats about an uprising in Ireland against British rule?
Answer: Easter
29. Thestrals and Floo Powder are both forms of transportation invented by what internationally-renowned author?
Answer: JK Rowling
30. What 1847 Emily Brontë 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
31. Henry David Thoreau wrote about life in the woods in Massachusetts in what iconic 1854 work of nonfiction literature?
Answer: Walden
32. 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
33. What literary character has a "trusty steed" named Rocinante, who, like him, is awkward, elderly, and not quite up to the task before him?
Answer: Don Quixote
34. A monk Of Egmond who wrote a history of Holland in 1305, later published in 1591 as “Verse Chronicle”, was Melis who? It’s also the “S” verb for adding coal to a fire.
Answer: Stoke
35. Oakland, California features a neighborhood named after what author of "The Call of the Wild," who often frequented the area?
Answer: Jack London
36. What color is the "badge of courage" in Stephen Crane's famous Civil War novel? The "badge" represents a battlefield wound.
Answer: Red
37. The international publishing group Random House merged with what "aviary" publisher in 2013 resulting in a new, merged publishing conglomerate?
Answer: Penguin Group
38. 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
39. 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
40. Jesse Andrews made his novel debut in 2012 with “Me and” who “and the Dying Girl?”
Answer: Me And Earl And The Dying Girl
41. 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 what “Two?” The missing word is also the one-world title of Henry David Thoreau’s book about living the woods.
Answer: Walden (Two)
42. 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
43. 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
44. "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
45. What literary "S" term is intended to be both critical and humorous while poking fun at an institution or idea?
Answer: Satire
46. In the late 14th century, Dirc Potter van der Loo, lord of Waddinxveen, wrote a poem of Biblically based amorous adventures called the what “Of Love?” The word is sometimes used to refer to a path or a particular educational class.
Answer: Course
47. 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
48. What British author wrote the classic 1964 children's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?"
Answer: Roald Dahl
49. 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
50. 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
51. 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
52. 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
53. 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
54. The decade-long Trojan War was instigated by the eloping of what famous couple?
Answer: Helen and Paris
55. James Joyce’s 1922 novel “Ulysses” follows Leopold Bloom, the hero of the tale who is from what country (as was Joyce)?
Answer: Ireland
56. 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
57. The ladies of Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club" meet to play what game with plum blossom and chrysanthemum tiles?
Answer: Mahjong
58. "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
59. 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
60. Sky-written poetry melds uncomfortably with murder in "Distant Star", Roberto Bolaño's novel dissecting the Pinochet regime of what South American country?
Answer: Chile
61. 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
62. Originally published as "Het Achterhuis,” in what language was Anne Frank's Diary written?
Answer: Dutch
63. 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)
64. 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
65. What Pulitzer Prize winning novel is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama?
Answer: To Kill a Mockingbird
66. "Alarm Will HOWL," reads an emergency exit warning at a San Francisco museum dedicated to what mid-20th century literary movement?
Answer: Beat Generation
67. What lapine nickname was given to Harry Angstrom, the anti-hero of four different novels by John Updike, each one written in a different decade from the ‘60s on?
Answer: Rabbit
68. "The hearts of wise people are in the house of mourning and the hearts of fools are in the house of mirth," a line from the book of Ecclesiastes, inspired the title of a 1905 novel by what American writer?
Answer: Edith Wharton
69. What 1945 British novel depicting animalian life was often accompanied with the subtitle "A Contemporary Satire?"
Answer: Animal Farm
70. The title character of what Charlotte Brontë novel asks Mr. Rochester, "Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?"
Answer: Jane Eyre
71. What 1995 coming-of-age comedy set in California is loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma?
Answer: Clueless
72. Set in the Irish city of Dublin in June 1904, what early 20th-century James Joyce novel focuses on a day in the life of Leopold Bloom?
Answer: Ulysses
73. "The Torrents of Spring" (set in northern Michigan) and "To Have and Have Not" (set on a Key West fishing boat) are the only two novels by what American author to be set in the United States?
Answer: Ernest Hemingway
74. 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
75. What "phony" and "lousy" book by J.D. Salinger was Mark David Chapman holding when he killed John Lennon?
Answer: The Catcher in the Rye
76. 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
77. 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.
Answer: A Series of Unfortunate Events
78. Since 1966, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has recognized the best American works in the genres with awards named for what swirly-looking space things?
Answer: Nebula
79. In a famous poem, Joyce Kilmer writes, "I think that I shall never see / A poem as lovely as" what type of natural object?
Answer: A tree
80. 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
81. 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
82. 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 was it?
Answer: Augustus Gloop
83. Code-switching and police violence are major themes in what 2017 young-adult novel by Angie Thomas?
Answer: The Hate U Give
84. 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
85. A 1904 play by J.M. Barrie, and its adaptation into a 1911 novel, are considered responsible for popularizing what feminine first name?
Answer: Wendy
86. What was the last name of the literary siblings who used the pen names Acton Bell, Currer Bell, and Ellis Bell?
Answer: Brontë
87. 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
88. What Richmond native and best-selling author swapped the law for literature when writing his first novel, “Absolute Power,” in 1996?
Answer: David Baldacci
89. The winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal was ranked as the fourth best children's novel of all time by a 2012 U.S. 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
90. Likenesses of Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins splash in puddles in a Portland sculpture garden dedicated to what beloved children's lit author?
Answer: Beverly Cleary
91. John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke is the birth name of what orphan and protagonist of popular adventure novels created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1914?
Answer: Tarzan
92. Percival Everett's 2024 book "James" is a retelling of the events of what classic 1884 novel from the perspective of a secondary character?
Answer: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
93. What classic 1938 play, set in the fictional town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, features the Gibbs family as well as a prominent role for the "Stage Manager?"
Answer: Our Town
94. 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
95. "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)
96. Which author wrote all her books (including “Mrs. Dalloway”) while standing?
Answer: Virginia Woolf
97. The 2024 Nobel Prize winner in literature was "The Vegetarian" author Han Kang, who hails from Gwangju in what Asian nation?
Answer: South Korea
98. In 1958, Ocean View Avenue in Monterey, California officially changed its name to order to honor John Steinbeck and a 1945 novel set there. What's the street's name, which it shares with the novel?
Answer: Cannery Row
99. 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
100. What classic character from Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" inspired the common image of a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder?
Answer: Long John Silver
101. 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
102. 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
103. What author, famous for writing “The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish,” set her 2004 novel, “Hawkes Harbor,” in Delaware?
Answer: S.E. Hinton
104. 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
105. 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
106. What Nigerian novelist and playwright of “Death and the King's Horseman” was the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to be granted the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Answer: Wole Soyinka
107. Miguel Angel Asturias was the first and only winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature to hail from what Central American country? Asturias's novel “El Señor Presidente” was inspired by the presidency of Manuel Estrada Cabrera in this country
Answer: Guatemala
108. The first mention of dragons in Greek literature can be found in this epic poem, which describes Agamemnon wearing a blue dragon design on his sword belt and a three-headed dragon seal on his breastplate.
Answer: The Iliad
109. What historic bookstore and Boston landmark, which became a meeting place for writers like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, has been called the "Cradle of American Literature?"
Answer: Old Corner Bookstore
110. Literature lovers who borrow ebooks from their library might use what L-word app provided by OverDrive, Inc. that shares its name with a supporting character from the TV show Lost?
Answer: Libby
111. What novel by Matt Haig, about a woman who gets to experience alternative versions of her own life, was—quite appropriately—the most checked-out book at the New York Public Library in 2022?
Answer: The Midnight Library
112. Billy Pilgrim, perhaps the most famous optometrist in literature, is the protagonist of what novel by Kurt Vonnegut, whose name derives from the building Pilgrim is held in during the World War II bombing of Dresden?
Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five
113. What name is shared by the author of young adult science fiction novels like "A Wrinkle in Time” and the French pastry that inspires a lengthy flashback in Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time?"
Answer: Madeleine
114. In 2023, Jon Fosse became the first person to win a Nobel Prize in Literature who writes primarily in what written standard of the Norwegian language, the name of which literally means "New Norwegian?"
Answer: Nynorsk
115. After the success of "Call of the Wild," about a pet dog that joins a pack of wolves, Jack London wrote a companion novel in reverse about a wolf-dog who becomes domesticated. What is the book's name?
Answer: White Fang
116. What South Island city was designated New Zealand's first UNESCO "City of Literature" in 2014, largely thanks to the presence of the University of Otago, New Zealand's oldest?
Answer: Dunedin
117. 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
118. 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?
Answer: Winter
119. 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
120. 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
121. 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
122. 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
123. 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
124. 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
125. It’s been a while since Mahjong has had a moment, with perhaps the most recent being the 1989 release of what San Francisco-set Amy Tan novel?
Answer: The Joy Luck Club
126. What novelist titled his 2012 memoir "Joseph Anton" after the pseudonym he used during the time he spent in hiding, starting in 1988?
Answer: Salman Rushdie
127. 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
128. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways: what English poet (and wife of a poet) posed as the translator, not the writer, of her 44 Sonnets From the Portuguese, published in 1850?
Answer: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
129. What jokester and comic glutton of Shakespeare's “Henry IV” plays was so popular that Shakespeare wrote him his own play, “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” reportedly at the request of Elizabeth I?
Answer: Falstaff
130. 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
131. 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
132. 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
133. 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
134. J. D. Salinger, author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” got his big break in 1947 when The New Yorker published his story titled "A Perfect Day for" what fictional fruit-slash-aquatic-animal?
Answer: Bananafish
135. Stonehead McGurney and Sir Harry the Muse are owls in what colorfully-named fantasy novel series by Brian Jacques?
Answer: Redwall
136. 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
137. According to the Harry Potter books, how many total balls are used in a standard Quidditch match?
Answer: Four
138. What famous American molecular biologist published “The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA” in 1968, 15 years after he and Francis Crick made their groundbreaking discovery in genetics?
Answer: James Watson
139. Sully Prudhomme, the poet and essayist who was the first person to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, was born in which country?
Answer: France
140. What is the title of the popular book and TV series about two families living in 1990s Shaker Heights that opens with a family home catching fire?
Answer: Little Fires Everywhere
141. Which famous world leader won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953?
Answer: Winston Churchill
142. What Irish author’s 2024 novel, "Intermezzo," took social media influencers by storm, as there was stiff competition to get a pre-pub copy from the so-called voice of her generation who previously penned “Normal People?”
Answer: Sally Rooney
143. 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
144. A container of what type dark Spanish sherry wine is at the heart of a trick played by Montresor on Fortunato in a notorious 1846 short story?
Answer: Amontillado
145. 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
146. Charles Laughton, Burt Lancaster, and Marlon Brando have all played what nefarious titular scientist from literature, who creates animal-human hybrids using the techniques of vivisection?
Answer: Dr. Moreau
147. What novelist and playwright of "Death and the King's Horseman" and "Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth" is the only writer from Nigeria to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Answer: Wole Soyinka
148. Poets Gabriela Mistral (1945) and Pablo Neruda (1971) are the only two authors from what Spanish-speaking country to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Answer: Chile
149. Lake Wobegon is a fictional, small rural town created by what famous Midwestern author and storyteller?
Answer: Garrison Keillor
150. Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, and Sprout Goat are some of the various characters who can be found within the busy world of what Massachusetts-born author and illustrator?
Answer: Richard Scarry
151. What hero of medieval literature fights and kills a greedy dragon, the third of his major battles after defeating a terrible monster, and then the monster's mother?
Answer: Beowulf
152. 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
153. What name did Thomas Hardy give to the English region that was the setting of novels like "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" and "Jude the Obscure," which he took from the medieval kingdom of "West Saxons" that once existed there?
Answer: Wessex
154. "Hello, goodbye" was the greeting of the Tralfamadorians in what novel by Kurt Vonnegut?
Answer: Slaughterhouse Five
155. 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 1850 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
156. French citizens have won it a record 16 times, but Annie Ernaux was the first female French recipient of the Nobel Prize in which category?
Answer: Literature
157. 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
158. 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
159. Who wrote “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” in his poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn?”
Answer: John Keats
160. 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
161. 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
162. 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
163. 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
164. 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/lie Stephanides?
Answer: Middlesex
165. The Miles Franklin Award, which has been bestowed on writers including Shirley Hazzard, Tim Winton, Thomas Keneally, and Patrick White, is given each year to a writer from what country?
Answer: Australia
166. Virginia Woolf imagined a hypothetical sister of William Shakespeare named Judith in what early feminist essay, written in 1929?
Answer: A Room of One's Own
167. 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
168. 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
169. 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
170. 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
171. Typically priced between 5 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
172. In Cervantes's iconic work "Don Quixote," who is Quixote's companion who regularly quotes proverbs and rides a donkey?
Answer: Sancho Panza
173. What part of speech is the part of the sentence that contains a verb, and it typically consists of both a subject and a predicate?
Answer: Clause
174. The term "robot" was introduced in what form of literature (e.g., a novel, play, short story, article, book, or poem) by Czech writer, Karel Capek, in 1920?
Answer: Play
175. Leslie Feinberg wrote about the experiences of her alter ego Jess Goldberg in what 1993 classic of queer literature?
Answer: Stone Butch Blues
176. What "cold-blooded" American author wrote the short story "A Christmas Memory" about making fruitcakes from scratch in Alabama?
Answer: Truman Capote
177. What Shakespearean play, in which two couples wind up marrying, coined a modern day term for an unnecessary dispute?
Answer: Much Ado About Nothing
178. Although he was not able to speak English fluently until his mid-20s, 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
179. 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
180. Halldór Laxness, who wrote about the headstrong farmer Bjartur in his novel “Independent People,” is the only winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature from what European country?
Answer: Iceland
181. What 1898 novella by Henry James is, thanks to its ambiguous nature, considered one of the most analyzed and interpreted ghost stories in English literature?
Answer: The Turn of the Screw
182. Damon Galgut's 2021 Booker Prize-winning novel “The Promise” depicts several generations of a family in what country, which has also been home to writers Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee?
Answer: South Africa
183. Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexei are the three familial title characters in what 1879 novel?
Answer: The Brothers Karamazov
184. 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
185. 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
186. 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
187. What French novelist wrote the astounding seven-volume novel "À la recherche du temps perdu" (English translation: "In Search of Lost Time," though it has also been called "Remembrance of Things Past")?
Answer: Marcel Proust
188. 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
189. "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
190. Which great American novelist is credited with the “iceberg theory,” a writing technique that came from his days as a news reporter?
Answer: Ernest Hemingway
191. 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
192. "Democracy," a novel set in Hawaii and Southeast Asia focusing on the wife of a U.S. senator, is a novel by what American writer of "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" and "The Year of Magical Thinking"?
Answer: Joan Didion
193. 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!
194. 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 Renaissance and 1937's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" remains the most popular of her 50+ published works. Who is she?
Answer: Zora Neale Hurston
195. In 1993, who became the first African-American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature?
Answer: Toni Morrison
196. "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
197. 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
198. 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
199. Dominican author Jean Rhys' 1966 novel "Wide Sargasso Sea" is a spin on what 1847 novel, this time told through the eyes of a character known as Antoinette or Bertha?
Answer: Jane Eyre
200. What novel traverses a century of the Buendías while surfacing the tales of seven generations of the Latin American family?
Answer: One Hundred Years of Solitude
201. 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
202. Kristin Lavransdatter, a historical fiction trilogy for which author Sigrid Undset won the Nobel Prize in 1928, tells the story of a spirited noblewoman living in the medieval era of what European country?
Answer: Norway
203. “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
204. 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
205. 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 the “Mother” of who?
Answer: Grendel
206. Which Bengali poet and polymath became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature when it was awarded to him in 1913 for his work "Gitanjali?”
Answer: Rabindranath Tagore
207. Considered a partially fictional autobiography by Charles Dickens is what well-known literary title of the 19th century? "The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of” who, “the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery?"
Answer: David Copperfield
208. When he won the National Book Award for Fiction for his postmodern novel “White Noise,” what American author, reluctant to accept the recognition, simply stood up and said, "I'm sorry I couldn't be here tonight, but I thank you all for coming," then then sat right back down?
Answer: Don DeLillo
209. 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
210. 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
211. 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
212. Herman Melville was not the only writer all out at sea: what noted novelist was an officer in the British merchant service in the last two decades of the 19th century?
Answer: Joseph Conrad
213. 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
214. Film producer Monroe Stahr is the title character of what 1941 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which he left unfinished at the time of his death?
Answer: The Last Tycoon
215. 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
216. 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
217. 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
218. What noted American expatriate poet was charged with treason for his broadcasts against America’s participation in WWII, only to be placed in St. Elizabeth's Hospital for the criminally insane, being released in 1958?
Answer: Ezra Pound
219. 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
220. 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
221. "The 42nd Parallel," "Nineteen Nineteen," and "The Big Money" are the three novels in a 1930s trilogy by John Dos Passos that's typically titled after what country?
Answer: U.S.A.
222. 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 book was a 2003 novel that followed the story of a young Afghan boy Amir.
Answer: Khaled Hosseini
223. 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
224. A classic story by French writer Guy de Maupassant contains one of the most famous "twist endings" in literature, when what title object is revealed to be made of paste and rhinestones and worth very little?
Answer: The Necklace
225. 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
226. 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
227. 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
228. 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
229. 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
230. "The Pittsburgh Cycle" consists of 10 plays about the Black American experience, including "Fences" and "The Piano Lesson," by what playwright?
Answer: August Wilson
231. What legendary short story writer behind collections like “Runaway” and “Dear Life” became the first Canadian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013?
Answer: Alice Munro
232. 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
233. 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
234. 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
235. 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
236. 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
237. When Jose Saramago, the author of “Blindness and The Double,” won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998, he became the first winner from what Lusophone European country?
Answer: Portugal
238. What is the name of the novel by Thomas Keneally that the Oscar winning movie “Schindler’s List” is based on?
Answer: Schindler's Ark
239. Molly Bolt's coming of age is the focus of what 1973 classic of LGBTQ literature by Rita Mae Brown?
Answer: Rubyfruit Jungle
240. 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
241. "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
242. 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
243. 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
244. "My Brilliant Friend," "The Story of a New Name," "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay," and "The Story of the Lost Child" are four novels by Elena Ferrante usually known as what Novels, where what missing word refers to the city in which they are set?
Answer: Neapolitan
245. 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
246. "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. Who was she?
Answer: Lorraine Hansberry
247. What 2004 novel, whose protagonist is a young gay Englishman growing up during the Margaret Thatcher era, won its author, Alan Hollinghurst, the Booker Prize for literature?
Answer: The Line of Beauty
248. 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
249. 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
250. What author penned the best-selling 21st century NYC novel "Let the Great World Spin"?
Answer: Colum McCann
251. 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
252. What award-winning author moved to Rome wrote her 2018 novel "Whereabouts," or "Dove il Trovo," in Italian after writing all her previous works in English?
Answer: Jhumpa Lahiri
253. 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
254. "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
255. 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
256. The Mexican peak of Popocatepetl is the geographical feature mentioned in the title of what classic 1947 novel by modernist writer Malcolm Lowry?
Answer: Under the Volcano
257. 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
258. “Milkman,” the third novel by what novelist from Northern Ireland who also wrote “No Bones,” and “Little Constructions” won the Man Booker Prize in 2018?
Answer: Anna Burns
259. Palamon and Arcite are the title characters of what play, a collaboration with John Fletcher believed to be the last written by William Shakespeare before his death in 1616?
Answer: The Two Noble Kinsmen
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