Books Are Food for Thought Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anton Chekhov

"The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov is a theatre play with, as main character, madame Lyubov Ranevskaya. She owned a mansion with a beautiful cherry orchard, but because of her enormous debts the mansion and the orchard were to be be auctioned, and the orchard demolished to make room for holiday cottages. As in much Russian literature is the case, there are also romantic complications between some youngsters.

Other theatre plays by Chekhov (1860-1904) include "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya" and "The Three Sisters".

Tolstoy (1828-1910), Dostoevsky (1821-1881) and Pushkin (1799-1837) were other famous Russian authors.

Answer: The Grapes of Wrath

"The Grapes of Wrath" opens with Tom Joad, who obtained parole after a conviction for homicide. Tom went home to his family, and found their farm deserted and repossessed by the bank after default on the mortgage payments. The Joads decided to move to California, a kind of "promised land" where many agricultural workers hoped to find well-paid jobs. Alas, this turned out to be untrue...

My sketch should represent a bunch of grapes.

Steinbeck (1902-1968) also authored the other works mentioned. In "Cannery Row" the main characters were Doc and Mack. "Of Mice and Men" introduced George Milton and Lennie Small. And the protagonists in "East of Eden" were the families Hamilton and Trask.

Answer: Green Eggs and Ham

"Green Eggs and Ham" was written as a challenge: Dr. Seuss was to write a children's book using only fifty different words.

Sam has made a dish of green eggs and ham, and tries to convince a stranger to eat them. "I do not like them, Sam-I-Am" is the typical response - until the very end.

The green eggs from the title are not a rare form of eggs. It was a figment of Dr. Seuss' imagination, but meanwhile people have made omelettes with spinach to create something as "green eggs". The ham can also be dyed with food colouring or covered with spinach.

Dr. Seuss (born Theodore Geisel, 1904-1991) authored the other best-selling children's books also.

Answer: Bucket

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) wrote this book about the eccentric chocolate manufacturer Willy Wonka.

Willy Wonka hid five Golden Tickets into the wrappers of his candies, and promised the winners a tour around the factory and a lifelong supply of candy.
The poor boy Charlie Bucket was one of the winners, and the only one of the winners described as a kind person.

The other winners were Augustus Gloop, an obese boy addicted to eating; Veruca Salt, a greedy girl; Violet Beauregarde, a rude girl addicted to chewing gum; and Mike Teavee, a young boy addicted to watching television.

One by one, these other kids disappeared from the tour as an absurd result of their demands. For instance, Veruca Salt wanted to have one of the squirrels sorting the nuts for some of the confections. The squirrels deemed her a bad nut and sorted her into the garbage chute.

Answer: The Five Red Herrings

My sketch does not allow to determine which fish are portrayed, you can only notice there are five of them and they are coloured red. This should lead you to the title "The Five Red Herrings", as the proverbial red herring is a false clue - typical of mystery stories.

Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was one of the major crime writers in the 1920s and 1930s. In "The Five Red Herrings", Lord Peter Wimsey investigated the drowning of Sandy Campbell, a talented painter who recently quarrelled with six other talented painters in the region. Lord Wimsey concluded that Campbell was killed because he carried an unfinished painting made by someone else in Campbell's style.

"Murder on Cape Cod" was a murder mystery written by Maddie Day.
Douglas Adams wrote "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish".
"Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" is a comedy novel by Paul Torday.

Answer: K. J. Dell'Antonia

"The Chicken Sisters" is a novel that describes the feud between two traditional Kentucky restaurant families specializing in fried chicken. Amanda Moore, of the Moore family that exploits Chicken Mimi's, fell in love and married Frank Pogociello, the son of the family who exploits Chicken Frannie's. To settle the feud, Amanda got help of a televised reality show named "Food Show" - much to the dismay of Amanda's sister Mae.

K.J. Dell'Antonia has authored a few unrelated books, such as "Reading with Babies" (2006) and "How to Be a Happier Parent" (2018). After the success of "Chicken Sisters", she also wrote "In Her Boots" (2022) and "Playing the Witch Card" (2023).

The other authors known by their initials are much more famous as writers of certain series.

Answer: John Irving

"The Cider House Rules" starred Homer Wells, an orphan child growing up in the orphanage led by Dr. Wilbur Larch, an obstetrician who placed unwanted babies in his orphanage. Wilbur trained Homer also as an obstetrician.

Homer fell in love with Candy, the fiancée of his best friend Wally. Wally was reported missing in action in Burma in the Second World War, and Homer and Candy had a son named Angel. After Wally came back, Candy declared that Homer had adopted Angel, and Candy finally married Wally. When Wilbur died, Homer took over the orphanage.

John Irving (born 1942) was an American novelist. Other works of him include "The World According to Garp" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany".

The other Johns were all English authors.

Answer: Banana Cream Pie Murder

All these novels star the baker and amateur-sleuth Hannah Swensen from Minnesota, and feature, of course, several recipes.

In "Banana Cream Pie Murder", Hannah Swensen returned from her honeymoon and wanted to start baking again, when the police informed her of the violent death of her mother's neighbour, the retired actress Victoria Bascomb.

The series about Hannah Swensen started with "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder", with as first victim Ron La Salle - a delivery boy from the dairy farm. In "Blueberry Muffin Murder", Hannah investigated the murder of her rival, Connie Mac. And in "Strawberry Shortcake Murder" the victim was Boyd Watson, a judge on the TV series "Bake Off" - found dead in Hannah's dough for strawberry shortcake.

My sketch may be hard to tell, but it is indeed a banana - no blueberry, no strawberry, nor a chocolate chip.

Answer: Say Cheese and Die

All these titles make part of the "Goosebumps" series.

"Say Cheese and Die" was the fourth instalment in the "Goosebumps" series. Greg suspected the camera that did not take the expected pictures could predict the future - or worse, even make things happen.

In "Welcome to Dead House", a family moved to a weird village where the other children wanted to be friends ... forever and ever after. In "The Haunted Mask", a child named Carly Beth found a really scary mask she wore for Halloween - and longer. In "Stay Out of the Basement", Margaret and Casey were not allowed in the basement where their dad grew plants. But not the ordinary plants as everyone knows...

R. L. Stine (born 1943) started the "Goosebumps" series of horror for children in 1992. Five years later, the original collection counted 62 stories.

Answer: A Clockwork Orange

All right, the options make clear that the second circle is an orange. Therefore it was filled in using the correct hue.
The first circle has two hands - clearly some kind of clock. So the entire title of the novel is "A Clockwork Orange".

Anthony Burgess (1917-1993) wrote this novel about Alex, a fifteen-year old ultraviolent character. His life consisted of sex, violence - and classical music, especially Beethoven. When he was imprisoned after a murder charge, he volunteered for the experimental and highly controversial Lodovico technique to eliminate violent tendencies.

"Orange Is the New Black" is a prison novel written by Piper Kerman.
Samantha Shannon wrote the fiction novel "The Priory of the Orange Tree".
And "The Love for Three Oranges" was a fairy tale written down by Giambattista Basile.