by Evelyn J. Mocbeichel
With plenty of time on our hands and with no place to venture and explore, it’s a good time to catch up on some reading. There are only a handful of books that I felt I needed or wanted to re-read, but when I have selected them, my opinion has changed after the initial reading decades earlier. This seems to be true when the book was assigned by a high school English teacher. One example of seeing it with a new insight was when I reread The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde. Now I understood this gothic and philosophical novel differently than I did as a young teen in freshman English class.
Over the years, whether for required school assignments or reading for pleasure, certain books, authors or characters remain with us for a life time. This can be either because we had empathy for the character, we could relate to them in some small area or because these authors embedded an image for us with their skillful way with words and storytelling.
For some of the questions you may have to go back to some childhood favorites. See how many of these literary questions you can answer about either the characters, book titles or the authors that wrote these long lasting classics or riveting pieces of literature.
- The opening sentence of “Call me Ishmael” is from what 19th century novel?
- What Shakespearean character says “Thus with a kiss I die”?
- Who wrote the children’s storybook, “Where the Wild Things Are”?
- The title of an autobiography called “One Giant Leap” was about what person?
- Who wrote “Dr. Zhivago?” (By the way, if you’ve never seen this movie, put it on your viewing list. It stars Omar Scharif )
- Miss Moneypenny is a character in what list of novels?
- Mythical creatures are popular topics in literature. So what kind of creature was the main character named Frodo?
- What children’s book features these three characters: Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet? (Side note regarding the author AA Milne. We saw a film in 2017, Goodbye Christopher Robin, that centered on the relationship between Milne and his son, Christopher Robin, the inspiration for the children’s books. It was a touching drama and inside peek into their lives that might not be as idealistic as readers might expect.
- The suspenseful, mystery, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” was written by?
- Who wrote “The Catcher in the Rye?”
- Sancho Panza was known as the loyal companion to the title character of what novel?
- The ever popular children’s book, “Where the Sidewalk Ends” was written by what author?
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Answers: 1. Moby Dick; 2. Romeo, from Romeo and Juliet; 3. Maurice Sendak; 4. Neil Armstrong;
5. Boris Pasternak; 6. James Bond novels; 7. He was a hobbit; 8. Winnie the Pooh; 9. Edgar Allan Poe; 10. J.D. Salinger; 11. Don Quixote; 12. Shel Silverstein
