Literature / 100 QUESTIONS

Books and Literature Quiz

Open a round of book trivia with this books and literature quiz. The five sets mix authors, fictional characters, well-known stories and Shakespeare, with a range of literary works too. Play all twenty questions in a set or start further along for a shorter, harder round.

Set 1 of 5

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Start at question 1. Play all 20, from Easy to Very hard.

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What’s in this literature quiz?

Each of the five sets contains 20 questions, with five questions at each difficulty. Choose Easy for the full round, Medium for 15 questions, Hard for 10 or Very hard for five.

Topics in the mix

Authors, novels and fictional characters
Shakespeare and dramatic works
Book trivia and literary works

Hosting a quiz? Open the question and answer list below, choose a set and print separate player and answer sheets. Read the quiz-night instructions.

Books and Literature Quiz questions and answers · quizmaster view

Spoilers ahead. Pick a set for your quiz night, then read the questions aloud or print separate question and answer sheets. One point per correct answer.

Question set

Set 1 · Books & literature

Easy
How many Harry Potter books are there?
Answer: 7
Easy
What is the name of the three headed dog in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone?
Answer: Fluffy
Easy
Which famous book is sub-titled 'The Modern Prometheus'?
Answer: Frankenstein
Easy
Who wrote "A Tale of Two Cities"?
Answer: Charles Dickens
Easy
Who wrote "The Scarlet Letter", published in 1850?
Answer: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Medium
Which of the following authors was not born in England?
Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle
Medium
What was Edgar Allan Poes first poem to be published?
Answer: The Raven
Medium
In Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book", what type of snake was Kaa?
Answer: Python
Medium
Which of these book series is by James Patterson?
Answer: Maximum Ride
Medium
The novel "Of Mice And Men" was written by what author?
Answer: John Steinbeck
Hard
What is the name of the mythical land that is the basis of Piers Anthonys most famous fantasy book series?
Answer: Xanth
Hard
In Stephen Kings novel Bag of Bones, what is the location of the Noonans summer home?
Answer: Sarah Laughs
Hard
In Phillip Pullmans The Subtle Knife, who does Lyra, the protagonist of the first book, meet first in the new world?
Answer: Will
Hard
What is the make and model of the tour vehicles in "Jurassic Park" (1990)?
Answer: 1989 Toyota Land Cruiser
Hard
Which elf did the Hobbits talk to on their way to Bree in the novel The Fellowship of the Ring?
Answer: Gildor
Very hard
In the Harry Potter universe, what is Cornelius Fudge's middle name?
Answer: Oswald
Very hard
In the "Harry Potter" series, what is Headmaster Dumbledore's full name?
Answer: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Very hard
Who are Lyra and Wills new guardians in The Amber Spyglass?
Answer: Chevalier Tialys and Lady Salmakia
Very hard
In what 1851 novel would you find the characters Ishmael, Captain Ahab, Queequeg and Starbuck?
Answer: Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Very hard
What is the name of the town, where Eragon from the self-titled book lives, until he becomes a dragon rider and makes his journey to the Varden?
Answer: Carvahall

Set 2 · Books & literature

Easy
What was the name of Captain Nemo's submarine in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"?
Answer: The Nautilus
Easy
What is the title of the first Sherlock Holmes book by Arthur Conan Doyle?
Answer: A Study in Scarlet
Easy
Who wrote "Harry Potter"?
Answer: J.K. Rowling
Easy
In Alice in Wonderland, what is the name of Alice's kitten?
Answer: Dinah
Easy
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, who was bitten by the werewolf Fenfir Greyback?
Answer: Bill
Medium
Mary Shelley is the author of what classic horror story?
Answer: Frankenstein
Medium
What is the profession of Charles Todd in the novel In the Frame?
Answer: Painter
Medium
Who wrote the book Running with Scissors?
Answer: Augusten Burroughs
Medium
In the novel The Bishops Jaegers by Thorne Smith, what are the jaegers?
Answer: Underwear
Medium
Which Clive Barker novel tells a Hollywood ghost story?
Answer: Coldheart Canyon
Hard
Who wrote the novel Dr. Zhivago which was banned in the Soviet Union until 1988?
Answer: Boris Pasternak
Hard
Who is the protagonist of the book: "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger
Answer: Holden Caulfield
Hard
What is the mysterious substance that is being researched in the North by Lord Asriel in Phillip Pullmans book The Golden Compass?
Answer: Dust
Hard
The Wolves in the novel The Wolves of the Calla have an arsenal of weapons, including hand-grenades called what?
Answer: Sneetches
Hard
By what nickname is Jack Dawkins known in the Charles Dickens novel, 'Oliver Twist'?
Answer: The Artful Dodger
Very hard
In which classic novel by Mark Twain did a beggar and Prince of Wales switch clothes, and learn about social class inequality?
Answer: The Prince and the Pauper
Very hard
Which classic horror character killed Elizabeth Lavenza?
Answer: Frankenstein's Monster
Very hard
Which author and poet famously wrote the line, "The female of the species is more deadly than the male"?
Answer: Rudyard Kipling
Very hard
Which anti-war science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut follows the journeys through time of American soldier, Billy Pilgrim, mostly set in Dresden, Germany?
Answer: Slaughterhouse Five
Very hard
What Ernest Hemingway novel was published in 1950, following For Whom the Bell Tolls?
Answer: Across the River and Into the Trees

Set 3 · Books & literature

Easy
Which novel by Jack London depicts the rise of a fascist-like regime in America?
Answer: The Iron Heel
Easy
In the Harry Potter series, who created the Ravenclaw House when Hogwarts was built?
Answer: Rowena Ravenclaw
Easy
Which American author was also a budding travel writer and wrote of his adventures with his dog Charley?
Answer: John Steinbeck
Easy
Who was the original author of Frankenstein?
Answer: Mary Shelley
Easy
How many books are in the Chronicles of Narnia series?
Answer: 7
Medium
Which Russian author wrote the epic novel War and Peace?
Answer: Leo Tolstoy
Medium
Which poet wrote "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" whilst imprisoned for being gay?
Answer: Oscar Wilde
Medium
Who wrote the collection of stories titled The Canterbury Tales?
Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer
Medium
Who wrote the children's story "The Little Match Girl"?
Answer: Hans Christian Andersen
Medium
Which of these statements is NOT true about Harry Potter character Hermione Granger?
Answer: She was named after J.K Rowlings best friend.
Hard
In which novel did Mark Twain- Special Travelling Correspondent of the Alta appear?
Answer: The Innocents Abroad
Hard
In Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park", John Hammond meets his demise at the claws of which dinosaur?
Answer: Procompsognathus
Hard
In "The Lord of the Rings," who is the owner of Asfaloth, the horse which brings Frodo to Rivendell?
Answer: Glorfindel
Hard
What is the name of the fictional submarine, commanded by Captain Nemo, in the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea?
Answer: Nautilus
Hard
In the novels Eragon and Eldest, zarroc is the ancient language word translated as misery. What else does the word refer to?
Answer: a sword
Very hard
The famous Wedding March is incorporated in the music that German composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote in 1842 for what Shakespeare play?
Answer: A Midsummer Nights Dream
Very hard
The Old Man and the Sea brought Ernest Hemingway enormous success and earned him the Noble Prize in Literature in what year?
Answer: 1954
Very hard
How did the Mariners ship end up in the Antarctic Ocean in the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?
Answer: It was blown south by a storm.
Very hard
Which of the following is NOT a work done by Shakespeare?
Answer: Trial of Temperance
Very hard
In which classic novel is there a character named Homer Simpson?
Answer: The Day of the Locust

Set 4 · Books & literature

Easy
What Shakespeare historical play was being performed at the Globe Theatre in 1613 when a fire broke out from a misguided theatrical cannon shot?
Answer: Henry VIII
Easy
How many T-Rexes were there in the novel Jurassic Park?
Answer: 2
Easy
In "Little Women", which of the March sisters married Laurie?
Answer: Amy
Easy
What is the real name of the American author and humorist whose nickname was a common riverboat phrase, meaning the water is two fathoms?
Answer: Samuel Clemens
Easy
What is Capricorns mothers name in the book Inkspell?
Answer: Mortola
Medium
Which of these poems was not written by Robert Lowell?
Answer: Digging for China
Medium
What novel by Vladimir Nabokov was banned for obscenity in England, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa?
Answer: Lolita
Medium
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, who was not a member of the Peach Garden Oath?
Answer: Zhao Yun
Medium
How old was the prominent English poet John Keats when he died in 1821?
Answer: 26 years old
Medium
Which of the following is not a work authored by Fyodor Dostoevsky?
Answer: Anna Karenina
Hard
In the Dark Towere series of books, Eddie Dean mysteriously resembles which one of Rolands dead friends?
Answer: Cuthbert Allgood
Hard
What dystopian novel is set in Oceania, an intercontinental super-state ruled by an enigmatic dictator?
Answer: Nineteen Eighty-Four
Hard
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel 'Wyrd Sisters', which of these are not one of the three main witches?
Answer: Winny Hathersham
Hard
Which novel, set in the Great Depression of the 1930s, won the the Pulitzer Prize in 1940?
Answer: The Grapes of Wrath
Hard
Which of the following Steven King books is not connected to the Dark Tower series?
Answer: They are all connected.
Very hard
Which of these books were written by Victorian novelist Mary Anne Evans, commonly known as George Eliot?
Answer: Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede
Very hard
In the novel Gone with the Wind, what were the names of the two slaves Scarletts father bought, and what relationship did they have?
Answer: DIlcey and Prissy, mother and daughter
Very hard
In the year 1818, novelist Mary Shelly is credited with writing a fiction novel and creating this infamous character.
Answer: Frankenstein's monster
Very hard
In the second His Dark Materials book, how does the subtle knife indicate who it has chosen to be his bearer?
Answer: It cuts off the pinky and ring fingers on one hand.
Very hard
In the book "The Martian", how long was Mark Watney trapped on Mars (in Sols)?
Answer: 549 Days

Questions adapted from Open Trivia Database and OpenTriviaQA, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected, filtered and arranged into fixed rounds. Sources & editorial notes.

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