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Good Start Trivia Quiz

Here are the the first lines of well-known books. Would they make you want to continue reading, and do you know what they are? All multiple choice.

A multiple-choice quiz by fringe. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
fringe

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
90,914

Updated
Jun 14 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
5339

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

Last 3 plays: clevercatz (10/10), Guest 24 (9/10), dellastreet (10/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Which Charles Dickens novel begins with the words "Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that"? Hint

Pickwick Papers

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Bleak House

A Christmas Carol

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Question 2 of 10

2. Who began his book with the sentence, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit"? Hint

Paul Theroux

J.R.R. Tolkien

G.K. Chesterton

C.S. Lewis

3. OK, so the author is probably easy here - but what about the book? The first words being "James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat back in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death." Hint

Thunderball

The Spy Who Loved Me

Goldfinger

Dr No

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Question 4 of 10

4. Which of Daphne Du Maurier's novels began with the words "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"? Hint

The King's General

Rebecca

Jamaica Inn

My Cousin Rachel

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Question 5 of 10

5. "When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere." What science fiction book starts with these words? Hint

The War of the Worlds

Fahrenheit 451

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Day of the Triffids

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Question 6 of 10

6. Which D.H. Lawrence novel started with the words "Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically"? Hint

Sons and Lovers

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Women in Love

The Plumed Serpent

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Question 7 of 10

7. Which well-known novel begins with the words "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen"? Hint

Lord of the Flies

1984

The Thirteen Clocks

To Kill a Mockingbird

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Question 8 of 10

8. Which Stephen King novel starts with the words, "Not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine"? Hint

Cujo

Christine

Carrie

Creepshow

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Question 9 of 10

9. "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realised it...". Who began her famous novel with these words? Hint

Grace Metallious

Mary Norton

Margaret Mitchell

Anna Sewell

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Question 10 of 10

10. Roald Dahl wrote some wonderful tales for children, but which begins, "These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr Bucket"? Hint

The BFG

James and the Giant Peach

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Matilda

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Most Recent Scores

Apr 14 2024 : clevercatz: 10/10
Apr 13 2024 : Guest 24: 9/10
Mar 17 2024 : dellastreet: 10/10
Mar 10 2024 : Guest 2: 8/10
Feb 26 2024 : Guest 80: 8/10
Feb 18 2024 : Guest 31: 6/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which Charles Dickens novel begins with the words "Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that"?

Answer: A Christmas Carol

One of Dickens' best known novels, "A Christmas Carol" was published in 1843, just in time for Christmas and became a classic yuletide story.

2. Who began his book with the sentence, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit"?

Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien

Whilst correcting papers in his day-time job as a Professor at Oxford University, Tolkien happened to write down this sentence in an exercise book, with no particular thought in mind. From this one sentence sprang the genius of 'The Hobbit' and its sequel, 'Lord of the Rings'.

Answer: Goldfinger

After his first novel, 'Casino Royale', was published in 1953, Ian Fleming was able to produce, on average, a book a year. 'Goldfinger', his seventh novel, was published in 1959, and was the third "Bond Movie" to be made starring Sean Connery.

4. Which of Daphne Du Maurier's novels began with the words "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"?

Answer: Rebecca

Published in 1938, Du Maurier's fifth novel, 'Rebecca', was set on the coast of Cornwall, England and made into a haunting film by Hitchcock two years later.

5. "When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere." What science fiction book starts with these words?

Answer: The Day of the Triffids

Published in 1951, 'The Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham has often been compared with H. G. Wells' 'The War of the Worlds'.

6. Which D.H. Lawrence novel started with the words "Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically"?

Answer: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lawrence started writing 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in the 1920s, but although it was published privately in 1928, it was to be another 30 years before it was made freely available, after much legal wrangling.

7. Which well-known novel begins with the words "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen"?

Answer: 1984

Eric Arthur Blair (writing under the name George Orwell) wrote his last, and probably most famous, novel, '1984', shortly before his death from tuberculosis in 1949.

8. Which Stephen King novel starts with the words, "Not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine"?

Answer: Cujo

King's first novel, 'Carrie', was published in 1974, closely followed at an amazing rate by another eight books before the publication of 'Cujo' in 1981.

9. "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realised it...". Who began her famous novel with these words?

Answer: Margaret Mitchell

After a slow start, 'Gone With the Wind' was eventually completed in 1936 by a rather hesitant, and very unsure, Margaret Mitchell. The book nonetheless won the Pulitzer Prize a year later, and the subsequent film version went on to win the Best Picture award for 1939.

10. Roald Dahl wrote some wonderful tales for children, but which begins, "These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr Bucket"?

Answer: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl started putting his thoughts on paper following his storytelling to his two young daughters, Olivia and Tessa. Following 'James and the Giant Peach', 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' was Dahl's second children's book, which was made into a highly successful movie in 1971.

Source: Author fringe

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