50 Literature & Books Quiz Questions and Answers
This page lists 50 real questions from the Quizlino Literature & Books category, each with four options, the correct answer and, where available, a short explanation. They are arranged from easy to hard, so you can start at the level that suits you. The full category contains 260 questions spread across its levels, so what you see here is a sample to study from, not the whole quiz.
- Cover the answer line, read the question and decide on your option first.
- Check the answer, then read the explanation even if you were right.
- Make a note of the questions you missed and come back to them after a few days.
- When you feel ready, play the timed Literature & Books to test yourself properly.
Literature & Books: Easy Questions
Warm-up questions that most players can answer.
Q1. Who wrote the play Romeo and Juliet?
Answer: B. William Shakespeare
Explanation: William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in the 1590s. It tells of two young lovers from feuding families in Verona.
Q2. Who is the author of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?
Answer: C. J.K. Rowling
Explanation: J. K. Rowling published the first Harry Potter book in 1997. In the United States it was titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Q3. Which novel begins with the line "Call me Ishmael."?
Answer: C. Moby-Dick
Explanation: Call me Ishmael is the famous opening line of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, published in 1851.
Q4. Who wrote Pride and Prejudice?
Answer: B. Jane Austen
Explanation: Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice in 1813. It follows Elizabeth Bennet and her changing opinion of Mr Darcy.
Q5. What is the name of the hobbit who destroys the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings?
Answer: C. Frodo Baggins
Explanation: Frodo Baggins carries the One Ring to Mount Doom, where it is finally destroyed in the fire in which it was made.
Q6. Who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?
Answer: A. Mark Twain
Explanation: Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876.
Q7. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, what animal does Alice follow into Wonderland?
Answer: B. White Rabbit
Explanation: Alice follows the White Rabbit, who is worrying about being late, down a rabbit hole into Wonderland.
Q8. Who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia series?
Answer: B. C.S. Lewis
Explanation: C. S. Lewis wrote the seven Narnia books, beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1950.
Q9. Which novel features the character Atticus Finch?
Answer: B. To Kill a Mockingbird
Explanation: Atticus Finch is the lawyer and father in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960.
Q10. Who wrote The Great Gatsby?
Answer: A. F. Scott Fitzgerald
Explanation: F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby in 1925. It is set among the wealthy of New York during the Jazz Age.
Q11. Which detective was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
Answer: C. Sherlock Holmes
Explanation: Sherlock Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet in 1887 and lives at 221B Baker Street in London.
Q12. Who wrote The Hobbit?
Answer: B. J.R.R. Tolkien
Explanation: J. R. R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937, and its success led him to write The Lord of the Rings.
Q13. In which book does the character Katniss Everdeen appear?
Answer: C. The Hunger Games
Explanation: Katniss Everdeen is the heroine of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, first published in 2008.
Q14. Who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
Answer: A. Roald Dahl
Explanation: Roald Dahl published Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1964. It tells of Charlie Bucket's visit to Willy Wonka's factory.
Q15. Which novel features the character Captain Ahab?
Answer: B. Moby-Dick
Explanation: Captain Ahab is the commander of the whaling ship Pequod, obsessed with hunting the white whale that took his leg.
Q16. Who wrote Animal Farm?
Answer: B. George Orwell
Explanation: George Orwell published Animal Farm in 1945. It uses a farmyard rebellion to satirise the Russian Revolution and what followed.
Q17. Which book tells the story of a girl named Anne Frank during World War II?
Answer: A. The Diary of a Young Girl
Explanation: Anne Frank wrote her diary while hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, and her father had it published after the war.
Q18. Who wrote The Little Prince?
Answer: B. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Explanation: Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French writer and pilot, published The Little Prince in 1943.
Q19. Which novel features the character Ebenezer Scrooge?
Answer: C. A Christmas Carol
Explanation: Ebenezer Scrooge is the miser in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol who changes his ways after being visited by ghosts.
Literature & Books: Medium Questions
A step up in difficulty, for players who know the basics.
Q20. Who wrote The Odyssey?
Answer: A. Homer
Explanation: The Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer, composed around the eighth century BC.
Q21. Which novel features the character Odysseus?
Answer: B. The Odyssey
Explanation: The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his ten-year journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
Q22. Who wrote The Iliad?
Answer: B. Homer
Explanation: The Iliad, also attributed to Homer, is set during the final year of the Trojan War and centres on the warrior Achilles.
Q23. Which novel features the character Bilbo Baggins?
Answer: B. The Hobbit
Explanation: Bilbo Baggins is the hobbit who joins a company of dwarves on a quest to win back their treasure from the dragon Smaug.
Q24. Who wrote A Christmas Carol?
Answer: A. Charles Dickens
Explanation: Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in December 1843, and it has never been out of print.
Q25. Which novel features the character Oliver Twist?
Answer: B. Oliver Twist
Explanation: Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, follows an orphan boy who falls in with a gang of young pickpockets in London.
Q26. Who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?
Answer: A. L. Frank Baum
Explanation: L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 and went on to write thirteen sequels.
Q27. Which novel features the character Dorothy Gale?
Answer: C. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Explanation: Dorothy Gale is the girl from Kansas who is carried to the Land of Oz by a cyclone.
Q28. Who wrote Peter Pan?
Answer: B. J.M. Barrie
Explanation: J. M. Barrie created Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up, first in a stage play of 1904 and later in a novel.
Q29. Which novel features the character Heidi?
Answer: A. Heidi
Explanation: Heidi, by the Swiss author Johanna Spyri, tells of an orphan girl sent to live with her grandfather in the Alps.
Q30. Who wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Answer: A. Mark Twain
Explanation: Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884 as a sequel to Tom Sawyer.
Q31. Which novel features the character Buck?
Answer: B. The Call of the Wild
Explanation: Buck is a dog stolen from his home in California and sold as a sled dog in the Yukon in Jack London's The Call of the Wild.
Q32. Who wrote Black Beauty?
Answer: A. Anna Sewell
Explanation: Anna Sewell published Black Beauty in 1877. The story is told by a horse and helped change attitudes towards the treatment of animals.
Q33. Which novel features the character Anne Shirley?
Answer: C. Anne of Green Gables
Explanation: Anne Shirley is the talkative red-haired orphan in Anne of Green Gables by the Canadian author L. M. Montgomery.
Q34. Who wrote The Swiss Family Robinson?
Answer: B. Johann David Wyss
Explanation: Johann David Wyss, a Swiss pastor, wrote The Swiss Family Robinson, published in 1812, about a family shipwrecked on a tropical island.
Q35. Which novel features the character Jim Hawkins?
Answer: A. Treasure Island
Explanation: Jim Hawkins is the young narrator of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, who sails in search of buried pirate gold.
Q36. Who wrote The Phantom of the Opera?
Answer: A. Gaston Leroux
Explanation: The French writer Gaston Leroux published The Phantom of the Opera in 1910, and it later became a famous musical.
Q37. Which novel features the character Erik, the Phantom?
Answer: B. The Phantom of the Opera
Explanation: Erik is the disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.
Literature & Books: Hard Questions
Challenging questions for confident players.
Q38. Who wrote The Scarlet Letter?
Answer: A. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Explanation: Nathaniel Hawthorne published The Scarlet Letter in 1850. It is set among the Puritans of seventeenth-century Boston.
Q39. Which novel features the character Arthur Dimmesdale?
Answer: B. The Scarlet Letter
Explanation: Arthur Dimmesdale is the minister who secretly shares the guilt of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.
Q40. Who wrote The Red Badge of Courage?
Answer: B. Stephen Crane
Explanation: Stephen Crane published The Red Badge of Courage in 1895, although he had never seen a battle himself.
Q41. Which novel follows the young soldier Henry Fleming during the American Civil War?
Answer: B. The Red Badge of Courage
Explanation: Henry Fleming is a young Union soldier who runs from his first battle and then struggles to regain his courage.
Q42. Who wrote Of Mice and Men?
Answer: A. John Steinbeck
Explanation: John Steinbeck published Of Mice and Men in 1937. It is set among migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression.
Q43. Which novel features the characters George Milton and Lennie Small?
Answer: C. Of Mice and Men
Explanation: George and Lennie are two travelling farm workers who dream of one day owning a piece of land of their own.
Q44. Who wrote The Pearl?
Answer: B. John Steinbeck
Explanation: John Steinbeck published The Pearl in 1947. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.
Q45. Which novel features the fisherman Kino?
Answer: A. The Pearl
Explanation: Kino is a poor pearl diver who finds an enormous pearl, which brings his family danger instead of happiness.
Q46. Who wrote The Good Earth?
Answer: A. Pearl S. Buck
Explanation: Pearl S. Buck published The Good Earth in 1931. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and she later received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Q47. Which novel tells the story of the Chinese farmer Wang Lung?
Answer: B. The Good Earth
Explanation: The Good Earth follows Wang Lung's rise from a poor farmer to a wealthy landowner in China.
Q48. Who wrote The Fault in Our Stars?
Answer: B. John Green
Explanation: John Green published The Fault in Our Stars in 2012. Its title comes from a line in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Q49. Which novel features the characters Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters?
Answer: C. The Fault in Our Stars
Explanation: Hazel and Augustus are two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love.
Q50. Who wrote The Book Thief?
Answer: A. Markus Zusak
Explanation: The Australian author Markus Zusak published The Book Thief in 2005. It is set in Nazi Germany and narrated by Death.
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