The Misplaced Literature Quiz II

Answer: The Raft

During World War II, three naval airmen were scouting for enemy submarines when they had to make an emergency landing in the water. They survived 34 four days in an inflatable raft before they were rescued.

The crew had lost radio contact with the carrier and were low on fuel, so Senior Chief Petty Officer Dixon made the decision to land the plane in the water. With him were Gene Aldrich and Tony Pastula. The Navy made one quick search but didn't see them. They had no food, water, or charts. Thirty-four days later, Gene Aldrich spotted a remote island (Pukapuka in the Cook Islands), where they stayed for 7 days before a U. S. warship arrived, and they were rescued.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Harold Dixon later spent a weekend with the author Robert Trumbell recording their experience, the result of which was the book "The Raft".

Question submitted by kennell.

Answer: John Lennon

"A Spaniard In The Works" was written by John Lennon. It was published in June 1965 and was his second book. The title is a play on the phrase "A spanner in the works" which apparently was first used in New Zealand in the early 1930s.

The book consists of drawings and nonsensical stories very similar in style to his previous book, "In His Own Write", which was published in 1964 and sold 50,000 copies on the first day of publication. "A Spaniard In The Works" was a bit slower off the shelves, selling 100,000 copies in the first three months after publication.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie.

Answer: Lew Wallace

"Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" was first published in 1880 after seven years of research and writing. Lew Wallace was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. This was his second novel, the first being "The Fair God" in 1873.

Karl Tunberg was the principal writer of the movie script.
Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote "Quo Vadis".
Lloyd C Douglas wrote "The Robe".

Question submitted by boof123.

Answer: Riddley Walker

"Riddley Walker" is one of the strangest books I have ever read, but also one of the most thought-provoking and strangely amusing. It's all written phonetically in an imagined future language based on a Kentish lilt. This is quite challenging at first, even for those of us who have an idea of how Kentish folk speak, but once you start reading the book out loud, it becomes much easier.

It's set far into the future when, after catastrophic events, probably a nuclear war, people are living like in the Iron Age. Punch and Judy, Saint Eustace, and inebriation all play a major role as the characters deal with the search for 'cleverness'.

Will Self's brilliant "The Book of Dave" was heavily influenced by Hoban's novel. The invented language of Nadsat in Anthony Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange" was surely an influence on Hoban. Huxley's "Brave New World" is one of the most significant dystopian novels.

Question submitted by thula2.

Answer: Lilian Jackson Braun

Lilian Jackson Braun wrote 29 books featuring James Mackintosh Qwilleran, a recovering alcoholic and reporter, and his two cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Koko seems to have highly tuned senses that lead him to give hints and clues that help Qwill solve various mysteries. Qwill believes that Koko's extra whiskers, 30, compared to the average cat's 24, are what help him sense important clues. Qwill also gets twitches or tingling in his luxurious mustache which helps in the same way. Yum Yum doesn't help with the crime-solving but she is a criminal in her own right, often stealing small shiny objects and untying any shoes she can get her claws on!

Rita Mae Brown wrote in many different genres. She wrote a mystery series, co-written with her cat Sneaky Pie Brown, centered around postmistress Mary "Harry" Haristeen and her animals, two cats named cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and a dog named Tee Tucker. Another series centers around Sister Jane Arnold and the world of fox hunting. Don't worry, the fox is never killed!

Ellis Peters, pen name for Edith Pargeter, wrote a mystery series involving Brother Cadfael, a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, England, in the 11th century. It's historically accurate and gives an interesting glimpse into that time period.

Janet Evanovich wrote a series involving bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and the amazing group of crazy characters she gets tangled up with.

Question submitted by dekeaunt

Answer: My Side of the Mountain

"My Side Of The Mountain" was written and illustrated by the American writer Jean Craighead George, in 1959. The story is about Sam Gribley a 12-year-old boy who hates living in New York. He has eight brothers and sisters, so he decides to run away and live in the wilderness. He then makes his way to his great-grandfather's abandoned farm in the Catskill Mountains and learns to live off the land.

Robert F. Kennedy cited this novel as his inspiration to become a falconer, which led him to a career in environmental law and activism.

Question submitted by Trower

Answer: Monkey

My introduction to the tale was through a Japanese television version that I knew as "Monkey Magic" as a kid. It was so popular in the early 1980s that we used to play Monkey just as previous generations had played cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. Little did we know of its ancient origins.

"Journey to the West" is a mixture of the accounts of a seventh-century Buddhist monk called Xuanzang's of his travels collected as "Great Tang Records on the Western Regions" and Chinese folk tales. It's attributed to sixteenth-century writer Wu Cheng'en. Arthur Waley's greatly abridged version came out in the 1940s. The book has been fully translated by others, but Waley's version is arguably the most widely read.

The character Monkey (aka Sun Wukong) is given the task, along with Sandy (aka Sha Wujing) and Pigsy (aka Zhu Bajie), of protecting the rather hapless and vulnerable monk Tang Sanzang in his mission to bring some Buddhist scriptures back from India. All kinds of wild things happen along the way and it's a madcap adventure story fused with philosophical pondering.

Question submitted by thula2.

Answer: Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek poet and singer, a contemporary of Homer, and probably lived around 650 BC.

It is said that the Oracle predicted that Hesiod would die in Nemea, so he fled to Locris but was killed in the temple of Zeus of Nemea. You cannot escape your fate, it appears. Hesiod also wrote, "Works and Days", possibly his most famous work, and "Shield of Heracles and Theogony".

Question submitted by Waitakere

Answer: Raymond Chandler

Philip Marlowe was introduced to the public in "The Big Sleep" by the writer Raymond Chandler, published in 1939.

It was made into a movie in 1946 starring Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge. Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood (Vivian's father) to investigate his younger daughter's gambling debts and a blackmail attempt. He then gets involved with a murder and killing to protect himself and Vivian Rutledge.

Question submitted by shipyardbernie

Answer: University of Washington

In the early 20th century, rowing, or crew, in the US was dominated by prestigious east coast Ivy League colleges like Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, making the University of Washington win that much more incredible. It was during the height of the depression and the team was made up of the sons of farmers, lumberjacks, and laborers.

Most of the team members were working to pay their tuition while attending courses and training for their sport. Many were the first members of their family to graduate from high school never mind attend college. This record of their journey to the Olympics is a great story of personal strength and fortitude.

Question submitted by dekeaunt