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Quiz about Numerical Novels
Quiz about Numerical Novels

Numerical Novels Trivia Quiz


A quiz about books with numbers in the titles, from one to ten.

A multiple-choice quiz by kino76. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
kino76
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
391,768
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
612
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Cymruambyth (6/10), Luckycharm60 (6/10), 1995Tarpon (10/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Written by Ken Kesey, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a 1962 novel set in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. The book centres around the shenanigans of Randle McMurphy, a criminal who faked insanity to be committed. Who narrates the story? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. "The Two Towers", second volume of J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy series "The Lord of the Rings" mentions at least five different towers. Which is the tower of Saruman around which the fortress of Isengard was built? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)", published in 1889 by Jerome K. Jerome, tells a story of three men on a boating holiday on which well known river in the United Kingdom? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. "Four Fires" was written by Bryce Courtenay, published in 2001. It revolves around a lower class Australian family, the Maloneys, and their trials and tribulations. Courtenay is one of Australia's most successful authors, but where was he born? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, is a book filled with black humour and satire which mirrors an actual event suffered by Vonnegut during World War II in Dresden, Germany. What is the book's full title? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. "Six Feet of the Country" is a collection of short stories published in 1956 by prolific South African author Nadine Gordimer. An author of sixteen novels, she won the Booker Prize in 1974, became a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and also won which other prestigious prize in 1991? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. "Seven Little Monsters" is a children's book published in 1977 by which author/illustrator who was responsible for the wildly popular and award winning book "Where the Wild Things Are"? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. "Hard Eight" is the eighth book in the Stephanie Plum series written by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie is plucky, determined and (sometimes) tough with a penchant for getting her cars destroyed in spectacular ways. What is her job? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy L. Sayers is the ninth book in the Lord Peter Wimsey series. Which unusual items caused the suspicious death Wimsey was investigating? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Let's read "Ten Apples Up on Top!"
This author wrote it, it was no flop.
"One Fish, Two Fish,
Red Fish, Blue Fish"
Also by him, 'twas tiptop.

Who is the author?
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Written by Ken Kesey, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a 1962 novel set in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. The book centres around the shenanigans of Randle McMurphy, a criminal who faked insanity to be committed. Who narrates the story?

Answer: "Chief" Bromden

The story is narrated by "Chief" Bromden. The half Native American is a long time resident of the Oregon Psychiatric Hospital who feigns being deaf and mute. The name of the novel is taken from a nursery rhyme told to Bromden by his grandmother:

"Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew East
One flew West
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest".

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" has seen much controversy throughout the years, including being banned at various times in various U.S. states. It was included in "Time" magazine's "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005" list. The novel was adapted into a multiple Academy Award winning film, starring Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy, in 1975.
2. "The Two Towers", second volume of J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy series "The Lord of the Rings" mentions at least five different towers. Which is the tower of Saruman around which the fortress of Isengard was built?

Answer: Orthanc

"The Lord of the Rings" trilogy was published in 1954 and is made up of "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King". It is one of the most popular series of all time and been translated into thirty-eight different languages. The towers mentioned in the book are Cirith Ungol (location of Shelob's lair), Orthanc (Saruman's tower), Minas Tirith (capital of Gondor), Minas Morgul (city of the Nazgûl) and Barad-dûr (Sauron's tower).

Regarding the title of the book, Tolkien states in letters to publisher Rayner Unwin that he considered naming any combination of the five towers as the two towers of the title. Later he wrote a note, published at the end of "The Fellowship of the Ring" and drew a cover illustration which indicate that the towers probably are Minas Morgul and Orthanc.
3. "Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)", published in 1889 by Jerome K. Jerome, tells a story of three men on a boating holiday on which well known river in the United Kingdom?

Answer: Thames

Jerome K. Jerome wrote a vast number of novels and collections, the first of which was "Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)". It is a true account of a trip taken by Jerome and two friends sans dog in a skiff on the Thames River. Jerome states that the dog "developed out of that area of inner consciousness which, in all Englishmen, contains an element of the dog". Strangely enough, the book was incredibly popular in Russia, becoming a standard school textbook.
4. "Four Fires" was written by Bryce Courtenay, published in 2001. It revolves around a lower class Australian family, the Maloneys, and their trials and tribulations. Courtenay is one of Australia's most successful authors, but where was he born?

Answer: South Africa

"Four Fires" was one of twenty-four novels written by Courtenay during is illustrious career, starting with his first novel in 1989, "The Power of One". Most of his books are set either in South Africa or Australia. Courtenay was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1933 and he emigrated to Australia in 1958.

He was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia in 1995 and his likeness was placed on a postage stamp in 2010.
5. "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, is a book filled with black humour and satire which mirrors an actual event suffered by Vonnegut during World War II in Dresden, Germany. What is the book's full title?

Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

"Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death" is the official title of the book. The lead character, Billy Pilgrim, was imprisoned in a slaughterhouse in Dresden and hid in a meat locker when the Allies bombed Dresden. This is an actual account of Vonnegut's war experience.

The book was a bestseller for Vonnegut, reaching fourth position on the "New York Times" bestseller list and was placed on "Time" magazine's "100 Best English-language Novels Written Since 1923" list.

It has also copped its fair share of censorship being banned in numerous U.S. states. It was even described as "depraved, immoral, psychotic, vulgar and anti-Christian" by a circuit judge.
6. "Six Feet of the Country" is a collection of short stories published in 1956 by prolific South African author Nadine Gordimer. An author of sixteen novels, she won the Booker Prize in 1974, became a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and also won which other prestigious prize in 1991?

Answer: Nobel Prize

Nadine Gordimer published her first story at age fifteen in the late 1930s. She won her first award in 1961, the W.H. Smith Literary Award which has subsequently been won by Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul and Pulitzer Prize winner Phillip Roth as well. She became an anti-apartheid activist and even proofread Nelson Mandela's statement given at his Rivonia Trial for treason in 1964, which led to his nearly three decade long incarceration. Many of her books were banned under the apartheid government due to her subject matter which was deemed "subversive" as they touched on political themes and the racial segregation policy in the country. Her 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature was one of over thirty awards and honours she received in a career spanning seven decades.

"Six Feet of the Country" was her third collection of short stories, published in 1956. She went on to publish twenty-one such collections in her career.
7. "Seven Little Monsters" is a children's book published in 1977 by which author/illustrator who was responsible for the wildly popular and award winning book "Where the Wild Things Are"?

Answer: Maurice Sendak

"Seven Little Monsters" is about monsters numbered one to seven that start causing mischief. One goes up and down. Two uses his extra long nose to dig a hole. Three comes creeping into town, Four chomps down on the trees and Five has a mighty thirst for the tumbling seas. Six likes to nap on houses and Seven can unscrew his head. Sendak wrote a number of books from 1956 to 2013, but illustrated significantly more.

He won a number of awards for "Where the Wild Things Are" which was adapted into a film in 2009.
8. "Hard Eight" is the eighth book in the Stephanie Plum series written by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie is plucky, determined and (sometimes) tough with a penchant for getting her cars destroyed in spectacular ways. What is her job?

Answer: Bounty hunter

Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter. Evanovich published the first Stephanie Plum book, "One for the Money" in 1994. Plum describes herself in every book as being only five feet seven inches tall and weighing only 130 pounds. Not really what one expects from your local bounty hunter. After being laid off from her job and having her car repossessed, she starts working for her cousin Vincent, a bail bondsman. Against all odds and with the help of Ranger, a mysterious and really well connected fellow bounty hunter, as well as her on again off again cop boyfriend Joe Morelli she does fairly well.

In almost every book, Plum has cars destroyed. In "Hard Eight" alone she lost three cars. One fire bombed by a man dressed up as a rabbit, another burned with lighter fluid and a match and the third burned after a package was thrown in the back of it. Only her grandmother's powder blue 1958 Buick, nicknamed "Big Blue" seems to be indestructible and has survived all attempts at assassination.
9. "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy L. Sayers is the ninth book in the Lord Peter Wimsey series. Which unusual items caused the suspicious death Wimsey was investigating?

Answer: The bell tower bells

Dorothy L. Sayers was to write eleven Lord Peter Wimsey novels in her career, but wrote a number of other novels, plays and non fiction works. In "The Nine Tailors", Wimsey suffers a car accident and is stuck in a small village. One of the bell ringers falls ill and Wimsey participates in a nine hour bell ringing. He finds out about a twenty year old jewel theft that has never been solved and a mutilated body is discovered in what was thought to be a sealed grave. After much to and fro and stellar investigation, Wimsey determines that the man dies as a result of the nine hour bell ringing and states that the murderers are already "hanged higher than Haman".

I have given only snippets of information; the actual book is obviously far more in depth and a very good read.
10. Let's read "Ten Apples Up on Top!" This author wrote it, it was no flop. "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" Also by him, 'twas tiptop. Who is the author?

Answer: Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel), is an immensely popular children's author and has authored over sixty books. Most people are familiar with "The Cat in the Hat" (1957), "The Lorax" (1971), "Horton Hears a Who" (1954) and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" (1957), all of which have been made into popular films at some point.

He also wrote "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" which is referred to in the limerick and of course the ever popular "Green Eggs and Ham", both in 1960.
Source: Author kino76

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
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