The 10 quiz questions
Question 1 : "Today, mother died." Which novel begins with this line?
Possible answers:
- The Stranger
- The Plague
- The Fall
- The Myth of Sisyphus
Explanation: This brutal opening line is from "The Stranger" by Albert Camus (1942), an emblematic novel of the absurd.
Question 2 : "Call me Ishmael." Which American novel begins with these words?
Possible answers:
- Billy Budd
- Moby Dick
- The Old Man and the Sea
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Explanation: "Call me Ishmael" is the mythical opening of "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville (1851), one of the greatest American novels.
Question 3 : "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Which novel?
Possible answers:
- Pride and Prejudice
- Emma
- Wuthering Heights
- Jane Eyre
Explanation: This ironic sentence opens "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen (1813), a masterpiece of English literature.
Question 4 : "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Which novel?
Possible answers:
- Crime et Châtiment
- Guerre et Paix
- The Brothers Karamazov
- Anna Karénine
Explanation: This philosophical reflection opens "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy (1877), considered one of the greatest Russian novels.
Question 5 : "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." Which book begins like this?
Possible answers:
- The Silmarillion
- The Lord of the Rings
- The Children of Húrin
- The Hobbit
Explanation: J.R.R. Tolkien begins "The Hobbit" (1937) this way, the prelude novel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Question 6 : "Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal." Which book?
Possible answers:
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- The BFG
- Matilda
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Explanation: This is how "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by J.K. Rowling (1997) begins, the first book of the saga.
Question 7 : "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Which Dickens novel?
Possible answers:
- Oliver Twist
- Great Expectations
- A Tale of Two Cities
- David Copperfield
Explanation: This famous antithesis opens "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens (1859), set during the French Revolution.
Question 8 : "I was born in Geneva in 17..." Which epistolary novel is this from?
Possible answers:
- Dangerous Liaisons
- Dracula
- Frankenstein
- Julie, or the New Heloise
Explanation: "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley (1818) begins with Robert Walton's letters, then Victor Frankenstein's story, born in Geneva.
Question 9 : "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins." Which controversial novel begins like this?
Possible answers:
- Feu pâle
- Lolita
- Ada ou l'Ardeur
- Pnine
Explanation: Vladimir Nabokov opens his novel "Lolita" (1955) this way, a literary masterpiece despite its controversial subject.
Question 10 : Which novel begins with "For a long time, I used to go to bed early"?
Possible answers:
- The Red and the Black
- Swann's Way
- Bel-Ami
- Madame Bovary
Explanation: This famous line opens "Swann's Way" (1913), the first volume of "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust, considered one of the greatest masterpieces of French literature.
