Pages

Friday, August 19, 2011

Book Lovers Trivia Pursuit

Trivial Pursuit Book Lover's EditionThis is not actually about a book, but about a game about books.
I would like everyone who ever reads this or other book blogs, those who consider themselves true novel aficionados, lovers of books, libraries and all things type-faced, to try this game.

I got Book Lovers' Edition several years ago from my sister, Kim, for Christmas, because I wanted to buy it for my brother-in-law, and it turned out in the course of the shopping trip that I found out Bill does not actually read.  (He is literate, but he does not really align himself with the fiction aficionados aforementioned.  This was a disconcerting revelation in the aisles of Toys R US after giving him approximately two decades of Christmas and Birthday books.  It was decided that this particular game was probably not his cup of tea, and Kim bought it for me instead)

I was cleaning the hall closet this week, and I ran across the game.  It brought back memories of the last time it got played, the same holiday season we got it.  It seems that neither my brilliant bibliophilic (mostly) family nor my eclectic and generally genius level friends could get more than one or two out of a zillion questions right.  Every game turned into a massive giggle-fest punctuated with copious amounts of sangria and box wine, along with ungodly quantities of homemade holiday treats.

I was wondering if the broader audiance of book-a-hollics (non-recovering) would have better luck.  I am going to post some of the questions here for your perusal.  Let us see how many out of 12 each of us can get, sans google.  The answers are down under the picture, typed backwards.  (I swear I am picking them at random, 2 from each category)

  1. Children's - What children's author chronicled the menagerie living at her Chappaqua, New York home in The Tarantula in my Purse: and 172 Other Wild Pets?   
  2. Classics - What's the name of the young boar who ousts Snowball to gain power in Animal Farm?
  3. Nonfiction - What morning radio host does Kathleen Tracy bill as "America's Cowboy," in a 1999 biography? 
  4. Book Club Favorites - Who presented Any Woman's Blues, a faux autobiography of painter Leila Sand, as if her recurring character Isadora Wing had written it? 
  5. Favorite Authors - What was Henry David Thoreau's name, until he  pulled the old switcharoo at age 16? 
  6. Book Bag Surprise - What runaway bestseller did John Grisham admit he wrote by following Writer's Digest  guidelines for a suspense novel?  
  7. Children's -What Jez Alborough book tells the tale of a lost baby chimp longing to be cuddled by his mum?
  8. Classics -  What title character lived in West Egg, across the bay from the Buchanans?
  9. Nonfiction - What magician explains why he stood atop an 83-foot pillar for 36 hours, in Mysterious Stranger?  
  10. Book Club Favorites - What 20th century American schooled herself on fourth-century Egypt , 18th-century Haiti and 19th-century France to write The Salt Roads? 
  11. Favorite Authors - What up-and-coming author died in a plane crash on the book tour for her first novel, Wonder When You'll Miss Me? 
  12. Book Bag - What 1996 book did Candace Bushnell base on her columns for the New York ObserverSex and the City
I got 4/12.  30%?  Perhaps I will do better after library school?  How did you do?




1.  egroeG giarC naeJ
2.   noelopaN
3.   sumI  noD
4.  gnoJ acirE
5.   uaerohT yrneH divsD
6.  mriF ehT
7.  guH
8.  ybstaG yaJ
9.  enialB divaD
10.   nosnikpoH olaN
11.  sivaD adnamA
12.  ytiC eht dna xeS

10 comments:

  1. Fun post! Thanks for inviting me here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Um I only got two right:(
    But those were crazy hard questions. I would love to follow through GFC are you going to turn that option on on your blog. Great post!
    ~Rebecca
    www.bendingthespine.blogspot.com
    Found you through Book Blogs

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rebecca, I feel rather dim, what is GFC? I clearly don't really know what I am doing yet...let me know and I will add it:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a fabulous game. I don't think I'm smart enough to play it even though I have a rather large personal library and I've read so much. Great post. Sharing it on My Life.'s face book page. Following you via blogspot. Can't wait to read more. Hope you'll have a moment to visit/follow my blog. Donna

    http://mylife-in-stories.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ack, I only got 3 right, and one of them was the Jez Alborough book!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I own this game too - another obsessive-reader-friend and I bought copies during a store close-out sale a few years ago. We read EVERYTHING between us - seriously - and could never get more than 1 or 2 questions right either!! Honestly, I don't know who this game is for, because everyone I know that has ever tried it has said the same thing (teehee)... It IS always a funny good time to try to play tho - because we too tend to try to come up with outlandish answers while drinking!! :) Great post - thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I got 5 by the way - but only because I literally just saw a reference to #9 in the book I'm reading now! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ugh...one, and I can almost see the Jez Alborough book.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 2 - you are better read than I, sis.

    ReplyDelete