Can you beat the authors? Take the bumper books quiz of 2023!

There are some famous titles here… can you find them? Illustration: Kevin Whipple/The Guardian

Authors’ questions

1. IAN RANKIN ASKS: The film A Haunting in Venice was released this year, with Kenneth Branagh reprising the role of Hercule Poirot. But what was the original title of the Agatha Christie novel on which it is very loosely based?

   1. A Haunting in Sussex

   2. The Witching Hour

   3. Hallowe’en Party

   4. Poirot’s Ghosts

2. Nick de Semlyen’s nonfiction account of Hollywood’s action stars of the 1980s and 90s is called:

   1. The Last Action Heroes

   2. California Diehards

   3. Maximum Carnage

   4. Fists of Fury

3. Mary and Bryan Talbot released a graphic novel this year titled Armed With Madness. It was the biography of which 20th-century artist? A: B: C: D:

   1. Dorothea Tanning

   2. Bridget Riley

   3. Paula Rego

   4. Leonora Carrington

4. NAOMI ALDERMAN ASKS: Which of these is not a recent fictional technology CEO?

   1. Rhett Daniels

   2. Lenk Sketlish

   3. Monroe Player

   4. Robert Lemoine

5. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Perdix, Philomela and Tereus are turned into what, respectively?

   1. A hoopoe, a partridge, an alligator

   2. A partridge, a nightingale, a hoopoe

   3. A swan, a nightingale, a raven

   4. An alligator, a hoopoe, a raven

6. Which of these literary pieces of clothing could you put on without risk to yourself?

   1. Nessus’s shirt

   2. The archchancellor’s hat

   3. Karen’s red shoes

   4. Katniss’s fire dress

7. 

   VAL MCDERMID ASKS: What was the title of Jane Austen’s first novel?

   1. Pride and Prejudice

   2. The Watsons

   3. Sense and Sensibility

   4. Lady Susan

8. What was the first title to feature Richard Osman as a sole writer?

   1. The Very Pointless Quiz Book

   2. The World Cup of Everything

   3. The Thursday Murder Club

   4. Richard Osman’s House of Games

9. Who was the first writer to continue the James Bond franchise after the death of Ian Fleming?

   1. Sebastian Faulks

   2. John Gardner

   3. Kingsley Amis

   4. Charlie Higson

10. NINA STIBBE ASKS: Which mountains feature in My Side of the Mountain (1959) by Jean Craighead George?

    1. Appalachian

    2. Rockies

    3. Blue Ridge

    4. Catskills

11. In Gerald Durrell’s The Talking Parcel (1974) the parcel contains a live parrot and what other creature?

    1. A tiny golden spider

    2. A multicoloured beetle

    3. An adjectival ant

    4. Another parrot

12. In Anne of Green Gables (1908) by LM Montgomery, what name did Anne give to the apple-scented geranium she saw on a windowsill?

    1. Jodie

    2. Bonny

    3. Flora

    4. Frank

13. BERNARDINE EVARISTO ASKS: Which of these award-winning novelists started writing her first novel on her mobile phone?

    1. Ayòbámi Adébáyò

    2. Irenosen Okojie

    3. Akwaeke Emezi

    4. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

14. Which Jamaican writer moved to Britain in 1932 and two years later her first play At What a Price was staged in London’s Scala theatre? In 1942 she founded the ground­breaking Caribbean Voices programme for the BBC.

    1. Claudia Jones

    2. Noni Jabavu

    3. Una Marson

    4. Phyllis Wheatley

15. The lines “no one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark” come from a poem called Home by which poet?

    1. Kwame Dawes

    2. Mary Jean Chan

    3. Warsan Shire

    4. Walt Whitman

16. WILLIAM BOYD ASKS: What was Franz Kafka’s day job?

    1. Chartered accountant

    2. Insurance assessor

    3. Quantity surveyor

    4. Discount stockbroker

17. Which poet collaborated with Louis MacNeice on the 1937 travel book Letters from Iceland?

    1. Cecil Day-Lewis

    2. Edward Upward

    3. Stephen Spender

    4. WH Auden

18. To which Scottish private school did Ian Fleming send the young James Bond after he was expelled from Eton?

    1. Fettes College

    2. Strathallan School

    3. Glenalmond College

    4. Dollar Academy

19. ANNE ENRIGHT ASKS: In Elaine Feeney’s Booker-longlisted How to Build a Boat, Tadhg makes the skin of his traditional currach using:

    1. Brown paper

    2. Animal hide

    3. Canvas

    4. Butter

20. According to Dublin by Chris Morash, John Ryan bought Dublin’s literary pub The Bailey on impulse at auction – he had intended to buy:

    1. A toaster

    2. A first edition of Ulysses

    3. Flann O’Brien’s manuscript of The Third Policeman

    4. A house in Inchicore

21. When Bill Furlong, in Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, finds a girl locked in the convent coal house, the nuns feign surprise and feed her a breakfast of:

    1. Slops

    2. Soda bread and butter

    3. A duck egg, black pudding and toast with margarine

    4. Porridge with a dash of poitín

22. JONATHAN COE ASKS: Which of these landmark events in British postwar culture did not take place on 5 October?

    1. Publication of Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

    2. The release of the first James Bond film, Dr No

    3. The release of the first Beatles single, Love Me Do

    4. The broadcast of the first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus

23. Which of these experimental novels is structured like a crossword puzzle and can be read either “across” or “down”?

    1. House Mother Normal by BS Johnson

    2. Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

    3. Tea With Mrs Goodman by Philip Toynbee

    4. Landscape Painted With Tea by Milorad Pavić

24. Which of these British sitcom writers directed the film version of Iris Murdoch’s novel A Severed Head?

    1. Ray Galton

    2. Alan Simpson

    3. Dick Clement

    4. Ian La Frenais

25. HAVE YOU BEEN PAYING ATTENTION? Which of these novelist Pauls is the odd one out?

    1. Paul Theroux

    2. Paul Murray

    3. Paul Lynch

    4. Paul Harding

26. What links this year’s Nobel literature laureate, Jon Fosse, with fellow recent winners Svetlana Alexievich (2015), Olga Tokarczuk (2018), Annie Ernaux (2022)?

    1. Same age when they won

    2. Same agent

    3. Same English publisher

    4. Same translator

27. 

    Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey have co-edited:

    1. A guide to allotment gardening

    2. A collection of vegetarian recipes

    3. An anthology of radical poetry

    4. A history of Latin American liberation movements for children

28. How many of the 20 authors on this year’s Granta list of the "Best of Young British Novelists" had not published a novel at the time of the announcement?

    1. 0

    2. 4

    3. 8

    4. 12

29. Which late musician’s estate this year auctioned their collection of rare and signed first editions of books, including works by Fitzgerald, Joyce, Woolf, Orwell, Hemingway and Dylan Thomas’s own copy of his first collection, 18 Poems?

    1. Tina Turner

    2. Charlie Watts

    3. David Crosby

    4. Lisa Marie Presley

30. To counter the threat of AI-produced books, Amazon restricted self-published authors to uploading:

    1. Three books a year

    2. Three books a month

    3. Three books a week

    4. Three books a day

31. 2023 was the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio. Of the 235 surviving copies, 85 are held in one place. Is it:

    1. London

    2. Stratford-upon-Avon

    3. Washington DC

    4. Copenhagen

32. Which 2023 celebrity memoirist instructed their dentist, mid-procedure, to make an auction phone bid on their behalf for a painting by Modigliani?

    1. Boy George

    2. Barbra Streisand

    3. Bernie Taupin

    4. Britney Spears

33. Which of these writers did not attend the coronation of King Charles III?

    1. Julian Fellowes

    2. Tom Stoppard

    3. Stephen Fry

    4. Gyles Brandreth

34. Martin Amis, who died this year, wrote science fiction reviews in the early 70s under what pen name?

    1. Martina Twain

    2. Dan Kavanagh

    3. Joseph Anton

    4. Henry Tilney

35. For what literary claim to fame was writer JR Moehringer recognised this year by Guinness World Records?

    1. He wrote the “world’s most expensive book”

    2. He wrote the “fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time”

    3. He wrote the “longest book ever published”

    4. He wrote the “ten millionth book to be catalogued by the Library of Congress”

36. SAY WHAT? Which novelist complained that the England manager Gareth Southgate had been “quite stuffy about his selection” in not giving the Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden more game time?

    1. Julian Barnes

    2. Jeanette Winterson

    3. Nick Hornby

    4. Jilly Cooper

37. Which author declared themselves “horrified” when they heard that “Piers Morgan had praised me”?

    1. Richard Osman

    2. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    3. JK Rowling

    4. Sally Rooney

38. Which musician subject of a new biography explained: “what excited me … was the rhythms of the music, the beats, the feel, the attitude”?

    1. Tom of the Chemical Brothers

    2. Thurston Moore

    3. Tupac Shakur

    4. Cliff Richard

39. Which novelist explained their decision not to use a smartphone for environmental and political reasons: “So let me get this right: in exchange for the maps you will give away your democracy, the mental health of your children, your own mental health – for a map? I will get you a map!”?

    1. Zadie Smith

    2. Barbara Kingsolver

    3. Richard Powers

    4. Margaret Atwood

40. Which author who died this year recalled the moment that changed their approach to fiction: “I suddenly thought, why the hell not have happy endings?”

    1. Cormac McCarthy

    2. Fay Weldon

    3. Milan Kundera

    4. AS Byatt

41. BILLIONAIRES AND TECH BROS: We learned from Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk that he was nearly named after which French city in which he was conceived?

    1. Lyon Musk

    2. Nice Musk

    3. Paris Musk

    4. Marseille Musk

42. A 2023 biography of which controversial tech figure began with the line: “‘I’m not going to lie,’ [controversial tech figure] told me. This was a lie.”?

    1. Sam Bankman-Fried

    2. Sam Altman

    3. Elizabeth Holmes

    4. Elon Musk

43. The writer and software engineer David Auerbach this year published Meganets, in which he asked if it’s too late to control big tech. But what innovation is he credited with?

    1. The chime noise on Windows PCs

    2. The spinning beachball of death on a Mac

    3. The smiley emoticon

    4. The left-handed mouse

44. In Jane Martinson’s biography of the Barclay brothers, in which room of the Ritz hotel – which they owned – did rival family members electronically bug each other?

    1. The diamond lobby

    2. The putting-on cloakroom

    3. The cracker hall

    4. The conservatory

45. 

    GUESS THE COVERS: Without their titles or authors, can you spot some of this year’s literary highlights? Which book is this?

    1. In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

    2. Water by John Boyne

    3. The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks

    4. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

46. 

    Which book is this?

    1. Really Good Actually by Monica Heisey

    2. Good Material by Dolly Alderton

    3. Shy by Max Porter

    4. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

47. 

    Which book is this?

    1. Yellowface by RF Kuang

    2. Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

    3. The Guest by Emma Cline

    4. Weirdo by Sara Pascoe

48. 

    Which book is this?

    1. The New Life by Tom Crewe

    2. The Secret Hours by Mick Herron

    3. After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley

    4. In Memoriam by Alice Winn

49. RIGHT AND HONOURABLE: In Nadine Dorries’s book The Plot, the shady cabal that supposedly controls the Conservative party shares its name with a group of poets. Is it:

    1. The Movement?

    2. The Brotherhood?

    3. The Augustans?

    4. The Martians?

50. A new book by the TV politics producer Rob Burley is called Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me? Who is credited with coining the phrase?

    1. Kirsty Wark

    2. Laura Kuenssberg

    3. Jeremy Paxman

    4. Robin Day

51. “Never be interesting”: which fellow politician gave the former minister and memoirist Rory Stewart this advice when he entered government?

    1. Rachel Reeves

    2. Iain Duncan Smith

    3. Ed Davey

    4. Liz Truss

52. Which MP’s memoirs recounted a background that included an armed-robber grandfather, a mother born in prison and a granny whose mynah birds would squawk “We’re out, we’re out!” when the debt collector called?

    1. Lee Anderson

    2. Wes Streeting

    3. Andrea Jenkyns

    4. Theresa May

53. To what did Boris Johnson compare Cleo Watson, former aide to him and to Dominic Cummings and now author of the bonkbuster Westminster novel Whips, when he sacked her? A: B: C: D: “Ephialtes of Trachis”

    1. “A summer’s day”

    2. “An ugly old lamp” from a failed marriage

    3. “Michael Gove”

    4. “Ephialtes of Trachis”

Solutions

1:C, 2:A, 3:D, 4:C, 5:B, 6:D, 7:D, 8:B, 9:C, 10:D, 11:A, 12:B, 13:A, 14:C, 15:C, 16:B, 17:D, 18:A, 19:C, 20:A, 21:C, 22:A, 23:D, 24:C, 25:A - All the others were on the Booker shortlist, 26:C - Fitzcarraldo, a publisher with seven staff members, 27:C, 28:B - Three had published collections of short stories and one’s debut novel was yet to be published, 29:B, 30:D, 31:C, 32:B, 33:A, 34:D, 35:B, 36:D, 37:B, 38:D, 39:A, 40:D, 41:B, 42:A, 43:C, 44:D, 45:C, 46:B, 47:A, 48:D, 49:A, 50:C, 51:D, 52:B, 53:B

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   Well done!

2. 53 and above.

   Congratulations!

The 10 books hidden on our festive ice rink: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Moby-Dick by Herman Melville; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis; Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus; Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson; Northern Lights by Philip Pullman; The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright; A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.