"But his dreams were as gigantic as his surroundings were small.". Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them.. In The Hobbit, what sort of creature is Smaug? What is the second Harry Potter book called? Spoiler alert: The "we're not savages" thing proves to be wrong. How does 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' begin? Take the famous first lines of books quiz to find out how many you can identify correctly. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Which famous classic is this? Mr. Popper's Penguins was written by Richard and Florence Atwater. So we stayed in the house. Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" for his children. > Literature Quizzes Written later in his life, this book was largely responsible for Hemingway winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Charles Dickens classic is often quoted, but many people don't know where it came from. This was the first novel of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. "Chug, chug, chug. It was published in 1938. This line comes late in Stephenie Meyer's first novel. With some books, pretty much everyone agrees on what its most famous line is - this is true of the opening line of "Pride and Prejudice," which you'll find on everything from dishtowels to bookmarks. How well do you know the famous opening lines mentioned in this quiz? "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.. Take the famous first lines of books quiz to find out how many you can identify correctly. Hypocrisy takes center stage in Sinclair Lewis' "Elmer Gantry," a collision of morality and human nature. Based on its first line, name the book. Open a modal to take you to registration information, Button that open a modal to initiate a challenge. Written by Richard Peck, The Teacher's Funeral was published in 2004. Charlotte Bronte's beloved novel takes place at Thornfield Hall, where Jane works as a governess. Which books opens with this line? Written by Geoffrey Trease, Cue for Treason was published in 1940. Take this first lines from books quiz to see how many first sentences you know! What did the monsters do with their teeth in Where the Wild Things Are? Because, you know, TV doesn't have any of those things. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him. The Thief was a fantasy novel written by Megan Whalen Turner. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle was written by Avi - also known as Edward Irving Wortis. The Boy in the Tower was written by Polly Ho-Yen. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.". Suddenly there was a ring at the door. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. It just feels good to test your literary prowessespecially when its against someone who also takes pride in their literary prowess! Based on its first line, name the book. Published during World War II, "The Razor's Edge" portrays a World War I veteran suffering from trauma and looking for meaning in his life. You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. The final clause about "a Duty-Dance" rarely makes it into references to this anti-war novel. John Toole killed himself before his outrageously hilarious "A Confederacy of Dunces" became recognized as a lasting work of art. There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. Once upon a time there was a lion, a witch, and a wardrobe. Written by Louis Sachar, Holes was ranked #6 among all-time children's novels in a School Library Journal survey. Sample Easy Question: It was a pleasure to burn. The black humor of "Catch-22" made Joseph Heller one of the most highly regarded authors of the past century. We'll give you the first line of a novel, and you have to choose the book it comes from. This book is a perennial classic by poet and memoirist Angelou. "How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries.". ", This is the first sentence of the famous Tolstoy novel. His insight into the regrets of midlife was remarkable for such a young man. START QUIZ Ill give you the opening line from a classic novel, and you identify which book it comes from. ', '#d13d50', 'A0A6FP0KU');kofiwidget2.draw(); Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Can you identify these classic first lines from literature? "The sun did not shine. It was 226 pages and published in 1990. I obviously need it by how I scored on this quiz! "The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.". All you have to do is identify the book. "Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live.". Ergo, you may enjoy the challenge of testing your literary knowledge! Sidebar: does the placement of the commas look wrong to you, like it does to us? 'An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story', Stephen King once said. ", "We've got to have rules and to obey them. Your email address will not be published. It was published in 1952 by Harper & Brothers. Sylvia Plath wrote just one novel, a bleak book called "The Bell Jar," before she committed suicide. "They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.". Freedom is slavery. "The Fault in Our Stars" is all about love in the face of death. Wonderful! Gnashed their terrible teeth 2. Written by Charles Dickens and published in 1843, A Christmas Carols tells the story of the infamous Ebenezer Scrooge. Here are ten basic books questions to get your trivia juices flowing 1. Plays. It was 366 pages long and published in 1884. ", A black woman named Janie Crawford throws off the bonds of racial inequality in "Their Eyes Were Watching God. And good luck! The 1851 classic by Herman Melville boasts perhaps one of the most famous opening lines of all time. As a book lover, it brings me great delight that Im married to another book lover. It is considered a children's historical novel set in Elizabethan England at the end of the 16th Century. Published in 1938, "Murphy" was Samuel Beckett's exploration of a weird guy named Murphy who hangs out alone in the dark and befriends hookers. How well do you know the famous opening lines mentioned in this quiz? Eighteen episodes make up "Ulysses," the groundbreaking novel by James Joyce. They deal with the infamous Dust Bowl, and such hardships as little money and shelter. On an emotional scale of 1 to 10, the characters of "Wuthering Heights" are always operating at an 11. Never let it be said that Charles Dickens was afraid of a long pileup of descriptive phrases! "It was the day my grandmother exploded.". Barrie's "Peter Pan. Here are some you may have missed. "Jane Eyre," an 1847 novel by Charlotte Bronte, followed the ups and downs of the life of a dynamic woman named Jane. This is probably the most famous line in Antoine St. Exupery's beloved book. ", "I am not afraid of storms, because I am learning how to sail my ship. From Athena to Zeus: Basics of Greek Mythology Do you know which hero took a dip in the River Styx? "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.". Generations of readers have Ray Bradbury's classic novel about book burning to thank for knowing that. "He's more myself than I am. Find the US States - No Outlines Minefield, Find the Countries of Europe - No Outlines Minefield, Get the Picture: Fantasy Conflicts by Author, ASOIAF: Blood & Cheese's Fire and Blood Quiz. Often it's a first line or the last line, but not always. Fun fact: Angelou wrote and read a poem for Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration. March Challenge Prompt: A classic collection of fairy tales. Its such a gift to be able to read from masterful storytellers like these! Why didn't you warn me?". "Look, I didnt want to be a half-blood.". : Text Date Added: 08/14/2019 Category Description Based on its first line, name the book. Neverland became a world-famous place thanks to J.M. "You better not never tell nobody but God. Im currently reading A Falcon for a Queen by Catherine Gaskin. For each of these book trivia questions, your players will be shown a first line of a book and then they will name the book. The Spanish-language novel "Love in the Time of Cholera" was published in English in 1988. Find the Countries of Europe - No Outlines Minefield. "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.". Trivia Night Games to Raise More Money at Your Trivia Fundraiser, How to Set Up a Trivia Night + Trivia Night Rules, Fundraising Tips to Help Your Organization Succeed, Lit Bits: American Literature Trivia Quiz #181, AUDIO: TV Theme Quiz for Trivia Night #200, Famous Addresses: Unique Trivia About Addresses (Real & Fictional) #171, Catholic Quiz: Catholic Trivia Questions #162. Written by George Eliot, "Middlemarch" is made up of eight installments from the early 1870s. "From the pleasantly situated old town of Mayenfield a footpath leads up through shady green meadows to the foot of the mountains, which, as they gaze down on the valley, present a solemn and majestic aspect.". It's a fun book trivia category! But what sort of vermin did he turn into? It was love at first sight. Famous First Lines Book Trivia Quiz #180 Category Number: 180 Text, Audio, or Picture Round? Illustrated by Carson Ellis and written by Colin Meloy, Wildwood was first published in 2011. Find the US States - No Outlines Minefield. 1. Registered office: 20 Vauxhall Bridge Rd, London,SW1V 2SA, UK. Jean Rhys used "Wide Sargasso Sea" to explore themes of inequality in society and relationships. Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P----, in Kentucky. Question: What was the first book in the Harry Potter series? ", Special Offer on Antivirus Software From HowStuffWorks and TotalAV Security. If you consider yourself a capital-R Reader, put yourself to the test with this guess the book quiz. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was written by Barbara Robinson and illustrated by Judith Gwyn Brown. Divided into eight parts, "Anna Karenina" is considered one of the strongest novels by Leo Tolstoy. 2023 Tea and Ink Society Create Theme by Restored 316 Rey and published in 1941 by Houghton Mifflin. "I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison.". With that in mind, it's time to test your literary prowess with our weekly quiz. Generations of children and adults have since taken it to their hearts. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.". "You better not never tell nobody but God. Every book has a first line and some famous books have famous opening lines. Salinger is banned in many libraries for profanity, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual content and violence. Find an interactive version of the activity here, followed by an answer key for the magazine edition. Trivia Night Games to Raise More Money at Your Trivia Fundraiser, How to Set Up a Trivia Night + Trivia Night Rules, Fundraising Tips to Help Your Organization Succeed, Lit Bits: American Literature Trivia Quiz #181, AUDIO: TV Theme Quiz for Trivia Night #200, Famous Addresses: Unique Trivia About Addresses (Real & Fictional) #171, Catholic Quiz: Catholic Trivia Questions #162. How well do you remember the first lines from these famous children's books? The Little Engine that Could was written by Watty Piper. It was written in German. It is the official children's book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. Which Dickens character says "Please, Sir, I want some more" 5. Click here to read my affiliate policy. I chose a good reading challenge for myself this year to read more classics. "The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.". Sophies mummy said 'I wonder who that could be?'". You'll be pushed to recall the titles that go with the first lines of popular novels from the last ten years. Thomas Pynchon published the post-World War II novel "Gravity's Rainbow" in 1973. Still, you've got to put that knowledge to use somehow, right? Madeline was illustrated and written by Ludwig Bemelmans in 1939. Famous (well, kinda famous) First Lines - 25 questions - 6 mins The first lines of "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Moby Dick" were used in other quizzes, so I had to dig a little deeper. "Rebecca" is probably Daphne duMaurier's best-known novel. "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.". Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. ", "This is the story of America. I believe that the right books can capture your heart and allow you to live life with a sense of wonder. 4. Find the US States - No Outlines Minefield. The quote above reflects King's casual, conversational style. Enjoy its brevity - from here on out, there's going to be a LOT of complicated, long sentences and paragraphs about the world of whaling. "Why didn't you tell me there was danger in men-folk? It was published in 1996 and was the first book in what is now a 5-book series. ", "Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved.". Henry James' "The Portrait of a Lady" was published as a serial in the 1880s. Theyre out there. Book Publication Year 1 Next > Sitemap . It's a fun book trivia category! It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. Required fields are marked *. To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I'm Elsie! He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf stream and he had gone 84 days now without taking a fish. His thoughts on life are ironic, often funny, sometimes infuriating, and occasionally heartbreaking. 5. 1. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.". Novel by Opening Lines Quiz Popular Quizzes Today 1 Find the US States - No Outlines Minefield 2 Ballon d'Or Winners by Age 3 Find the Countries of Europe - No Outlines Minefield 4 Countries of the World Literature Author Random Literature or Author Quiz Novel by Opening Lines Can you name the these famous novels from their opening lines? In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. "High school isn't a very important place. Eesh! There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.. Lewis and Chris Van Allsburg. It's amazing to consider that this melancholy line, the last of "Gatsby," was written when Scott Fitzgerald was only 26. I havent read anything by Catherine Gaskin, but from poking around, she looks like an interesting author! ", The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.". All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. In the movie, it was moved up to a prologue segment about heroine Bella's near-death. Your email address will not be published. "I am always saying 'Glad to've met you' to someone I'm not at all glad I met. Johnny Cade says this to his friend, the narrator Ponyboy Curtis, on his deathbed. You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.- C. S. Lewis. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him.". One may as well begin with Helen's letters to her sister. Answer: Jane Eyre was the first novel by Charlotte Bront to be published. "Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.". "What is essential is invisible to the eye.". In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.. by Philip K Dick, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl, Horrid Henry's Revenge by Francesca Simon, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis de Bernires, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Time Of The Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. This 1951 classic by J.D. The 1929 classic and third novel by tortured writer Ernest Hemingway includes a lot of details that border on autobiographical. And what better way to fake it than to be able to quote a classic book's most famous line? Holden Caulfield narrates "Catcher" as though he's speaking directly to the reader. AND HOW. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the thing you were after.". It was too wet to play. Here's a helpful hint: though you might see a book used more than once in the answer options (there are choices for each quote), no book will be the right answer more than once. It was published on June 3, 1969. Not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. "Once there was a little girl called Sophie. "Catch-22" is a novel about World War II pilots. In its original form, it is the title of a book of Jane-Eyre-inspired short stories. This debate about "On the Road," by Beat generation writer Jack Kerouac, is still ongoing. "The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.". All that cold, cold, wet day.". "Things are a lot different around here since that Unicorn moved in.". pat says. "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. Once there was a great and terrible war. When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Itd kill your mammy.". One of the nerdy things we like to do is quiz each other on quotes from books, especially the opening lines. She followed it up with "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys. Sample Easy Question: It was a pleasure to burn. Steinbeck's novel is one of the greatest known in America. "I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.". Mark Twain called a classic "a book everyone wants to have read, but nobody wants to read." "There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. I want to add so many of those book to my TBR right now just based on their first line! Click the red Take Quiz button to begin. Recommended for grades: 9,10,11 Average agony Dec 14 20 3022 plays 5. Undoubtedly, these famous quotes ring a bell. After all, we're not savages.". Consider:"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;" "It was a pleasure to burn," and "Reader, I married him." "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.". Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe), One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (Ken Kesey). As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.. ", This line is from Louisa May Alcott's famous book. In other words, each question is about a unique book. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns. Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. ", Before Dodie Smith became famous for "The Hundred and One Dalmatians," she wrote "I Capture the Castle. This quiz has 2 formats: you can play it as a. 2. Dr. Seuss' real name was Theodor Geisel. "If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.". Tess is speaking here to her mother, who did not warn her of the dangers of her sophisticated "cousin" Alec. Anastasia Steele first appears in which risqu 2011 novel by E.L. James? START QUIZ "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." "A Tale of Two Cities" "Gone With the Wind" "Anna Karenina" "Call me Ishmael." "The Old Man and the Sea" "Moby-Dick" "Treasure Island" "You better not never tell nobody but God. "Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.". Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. When you're going you think it's a big deal, but when it's over, nobody really thinks it's great unless they're beered up.". Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky). Which novel begins with this line: "Call me Ishmael"? Put your skills to the test, and take this quiz on memorable literary sentences. Being afraid to fly was rational, therefore proof of being sane. Timed Quiz Game. If you enjoy lines like the above, trust us, "Wuthering Heights" is for you. "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley.". For this quiz, we've picked what we feel is the best-known, most-quoted line. "In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.". It was also made into a film both in 1971 and 2005. ", Written by C.S. Bear Country 3. "One Thousand and One Nights". This one is famous, of course. YouTube star John Green single-handedly changed the course of YA fiction by releasing this realistic, ironic "problem novel" into a market full of vampire and dystopian fantasies. kofiwidget2.init('Leave a Tip! "If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it.". Written by Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of 13 children's novels. Use this quiz to find out which novels universe youre best suited to. In a book by Leo Tolstoy, the first line is "Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."