Can you outwit Margaret Atwood? The bumper books quiz of 2022

Authors’ questions

1. MARGARET ATWOOD ASKS: “They live too near the rocks to quarrel with their neighbours.” This quote appears in:

   1. All Quiet on the Western Front

   2. The Hobbit

   3. The Tale of Mr Tod

   4. Middlemarch

2. Which pioneering nature writer had a father who presented them with the doctor’s bill for their birth on their 21st birthday?

   1. Rachel Carson

   2. John Livingston

   3. Barry Lopez

   4. Ernest Thompson Seton

3. In what horror story does a vampire appear in the shape of a large cat?

   1. The Vampyre

   2. Carmilla

   3. Interview with the Vampire

   4. Salem’s Lot

4. IAN RANKIN ASKS: Which artist’s 1988 Moscow exhibition was the subject of a book published this year?

   1. David Hockney

   2. Maggi Hambling

   3. Francis Bacon

   4. Lucian Freud

5. Which author, better known for their film career, had a 1966 novel (The Glass Pearls) reissued this year?

   1. David Lean

   2. Angela Lansbury

   3. Donald Cammell

   4. Emeric Pressburger

6. Whose latest novel, set in 1926 Soho, revolves around nightclub owner Nellie Coker?

   1. Kate Atkinson

   2. Jenni Fagan

   3. John Lanchester

   4. Denise Mina

7. 

   WILLIAM BOYD ASKS: Which one of these cities did James Joyce not live in?

   1. Zurich

   2. Trieste

   3. Rome

   4. Venice

8. What was TS Eliot’s first wife’s Christian name?

   1. Virginia

   2. Vivien

   3. Valerie

   4. Violet

9. Which one of these 19th-century explorers first reached the source of the Nile?

   1. Henry Morton Stanley

   2. Cashel Greville Ross

   3. John Hanning Speke

   4. Richard Francis Burton

10. BERNARDINE EVARISTO ASKS: Which writer has published two crime fiction novels featuring a detective called Digger as protagonist?

    1. Jason Allen-Paisant

    2. Jacob Polley

    3. Jacob Ross

    4. Jacob Sam-La Rose

11. Name the title of the wildly satirical book by a Sierra Leonean barrister first published in London in 1909.

    1. Britons, Blacks and Bargains

    2. Savage Britons and Sensible Africans

    3. The Invisible Spirit of the Britons

    4. Britons through Negro Spectacles

12. Which debut novel features a Nigerian mother and her family living in north west London?

    1. On Black Sisters’ Street by Chika Unigwe

    2. 26a by Diana Evans

    3. The Mother by Yvette Edwards

    4. The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi

13. 

    ANNE ENRIGHT ASKS: When the heroine of Louise Kennedy’s novel Trespasses is invited to a bohemian supper in mid-70s Belfast, the hostess serves a classic dish of the time. It is:

    1. Angels on horseback

    2. Moussaka

    3. Pineapple upside-down cake

    4. Fondue

14. The narrator of Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones, Marcus Conway, has a daughter to whom he has given the name of Agnes. His wife is called:

    1. Mairead

    2. Marcella

    3. Agatha

    4. Annie

15. Another Mayo writer, Colin Barrett, gives a character in Homesickness a home on a fictional estate near Ballina. It is called:

    1. Mary Robinson Heights

    2. Benwee Manor

    3. Belleek Woods

    4. Granuaile Court

16. VAL MCDERMID ASKS: Which British crime writer’s pseudonyms include JB Dancer, Thorn Ryder, Terry Lennox and JD Sandon?

    1. Ian Rankin

    2. Lee Child

    3. John Harvey

    4. John Creasey

17. Which of these does not belong in the list of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone alphabet series?

    1. R Is for Ricochet

    2. V Is for Violence

    3. D Is for Deadbeat

    4. P Is for Peril

18. 

    John Gielgud’s career as a West End leading man was kickstarted in a play written by a golden age crime writer. But which one?

    1. Ngaio Marsh

    2. Josephine Tey

    3. Agatha Christie

    4. Gladys Mitchell

19. WERE YOU PAYING ATTENTION? Which key element of the classic animated film of The Snowman does not feature in the original book by Raymond Briggs, who died this year?

    1. Christmas

    2. The Brighton Pavilion

    3. Flying

    4. A little boy

20. Which musician’s 2022 book was dedicated to “all the crew at Dunkin’ Donuts”?

    1. Bob Dylan

    2. Dave Grohl

    3. Nick Cave

    4. Patti Smith

21. 

    Shehan Karunatilaka’s debut novel was called Chinaman. Was it set in the world of … ?

    1. Finance

    2. Cricket

    3. Porcelain production

    4. Gambling

22. Which novelist was placed on Russia’s sanction list for their stance on the war in Ukraine?

    1. Salman Rushdie

    2. Orhan Pamuk

    3. Margaret Atwood

    4. JK Rowling

23. Nick Hornby’s 2022 study of genius found unexpected parallels between which two creative titans?

    1. Jane Austen and Beyoncé

    2. Charles Dickens and Prince

    3. Anthony Trollope and Morrissey

    4. George Eliot and Adele

24. 

    2022 Nobel prize winner Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical book A Girl’s Story recalls the time she came to London in 1960 aged 20 to work as:

    1. A French tutor

    2. A singer

    3. A pastry chef

    4. An au pair

25. Which of these octogenarian writers was the odd one out this year?

    1. Cormac McCarthy

    2. Anne Tyler

    3. John Irving

    4. Penelope Lively

26. The 2022 Goldsmiths prize for work that “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form” was awarded to:

    1. A novel by two authors

    2. A novel in two languages

    3. A novel in two volumes

    4. A novel with two endings

27. 

    The 80s-style shooter video game EmilyBlaster was inspired by a 2022 novel. It requires the player to fire at the words of which writer?

    1. Emily Brontë

    2. Emily Dickinson

    3. Emily Ratajkowski

    4. Emily St John Mandel

28. Which bestselling author was this year elected to the US Senate?

    1. Jane Smiley

    2. JD Vance

    3. Al Franken

    4. Michael Moore

29. Which newly appointed public figure also published a novel this year?

    1. The chief executive of the NHS

    2. The chair of the Football Association

    3. The commissioner of the Metropolitan police

    4. The president of the CBI

30. 

    Which of these writers did not use the late queen in their fiction?

    1. Hilary Mantel

    2. Alan Bennett

    3. Sue Townsend

    4. John Banville

31. RIGHT AND HONOURABLE? Which politician provided publicity for a then unpublished biography of Liz Truss by raising it at prime minister’s question time?

    1. Liz Truss

    2. Keir Starmer

    3. Boris Johnson

    4. Nadine Dorries

32. Which politician is described in Marina Hyde’s What Just Happened?! as a “living testament to the ancient Conservative principle that they’ve always got a worse idea up their sleeve”?

    1. Gavin Williamson

    2. Suella Braverman

    3. Steve Baker

    4. Priti Patel

33. 

    It was reported in a new book that on Boris Johnson’s last day in No 10 Dominic Raab had to leave crisis talks by a side entrance out of view of photographers because he was wearing:

    1. Jeans

    2. Judo kit

    3. Swimming trunks

    4. Full white tie evening dress

34. Which political figure appears in Jonathan Coe’s 2022 novel Bournville, although “whether he’s a fictional character or not remains hard to determine with any certainty”?

    1. Jacob Rees-Mogg

    2. Boris Johnson

    3. Matt Hancock

    4. Dominic Cummings

35. Which of this year’s four chancellors of the exchequer is the subject of a biography entitled Going for Broke?

    1. Kwasi Kwarteng

    2. Nadhim Zahawi

    3. Rishi Sunak

    4. Jeremy Hunt

36. SAY WHAT? Who said “It never occurred to me that I was writing a cosy book: it’s wrapped in cosy wrapping paper and there’s a cosy bow on the top, but I don’t think the gift itself is cosy.”

    1. Dolly Parton

    2. Richard Osman

    3. Rev Richard Coles

    4. Bob Mortimer

37. 

    Which writer said of their homeland: “I mean, we produce a lot of Viagra. And Guinness. And Kerrygold. But when you think about Ireland, what else is there, except poets?”

    1. Colm Tóibín

    2. Paul Muldoon

    3. Sally Rooney

    4. Claire Keegan

38. The biography of which writer included letters to their publisher complaining about a book tour event where “the books were unpleasantly cold to sign”?

    1. John le Carré

    2. Barbara Cartland

    3. Terry Pratchett

    4. Jan Morris

39. Which actor’s diaries revealed the lesson they took from winning a major award: “This will be a healthy reminder to me that subtlety isn’t everything”?

    1. Paul Newman

    2. Matthew Perry

    3. Richard E Grant

    4. Alan Rickman

40. Which musician’s memoir recalled falling asleep in a French chapel as “part reverie and part revelry, part rosary and part rosé”?

    1. Pete Doherty

    2. Bez

    3. Bono

    4. Jarvis Cocker

41. 1922 AND ALL THAT After copies of James Joyce’s Ulysses were seized by customs officials in Folkestone for obscenity they were then:

    1. Sent to the Bodleian Library

    2. Placed in the vault of the Bank of England

    3. Burned

    4. Stolen and sold on the black market

42. The first fiction to be read on the BBC was in a programme for children on its second day of broadcasting. It was a story by which writer?

    1. Beatrix Potter

    2. E Nesbit

    3. Rudyard Kipling

    4. Oscar Wilde

43. The writer and Irish nationalist Erskine Childers was executed in 1922. His bestselling novel The Riddle of the Sands is often described as the first:

    1. Spy novel

    2. Horror novel

    3. Meta novel

    4. Beach read

44. Which author, born in 1922, claimed that “you can’t create humour out of happiness”?

    1. Kingsley Amis

    2. Kurt Vonnegut

    3. Grace Paley

    4. Charles M Schulz

45. 

    Which newspaper concluded its review of TS Eliot’s The Waste Land by judging the poem was “so much waste paper”?

    1. The Daily Mail

    2. The Guardian

    3. The Daily Telegraph

    4. The Times

46. 

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

    1. A Previous Life by Edmund White

    2. Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors by Aravind Jayan

    3. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

    4. The Men by Sandra Newman

47. 

    Which book is this?

    1. People Person by Candice Carty-Williams

    2. Love Marriage by Monica Ali

    3. Either/Or by Elif Batuman

    4. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

48. 

    Which book is this?

    1. The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson

    2. Companion Piece by Ali Smith

    3. Lessons by Ian McEwan

    4. Bournville by Jonathan Coe

49. 

    Which book is this?

    1. Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde

    2. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

    3. Liberation Day by George Saunders

    4. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo

50. 

    Which book is this?

    1. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

    2. Paradais by Fernanda Melchor

    3. Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

    4. Homesickness by Colin Barrett

Solutions

1:C, 2:D, 3:B, 4:C, 5:D, 6:A, 7:D, 8:B, 9:C, 10:C, 11:D, 12:B, 13:B, 14:A, 15:C, 16:C, 17:B, 18:B, 19:A, 20:A, 21:B, 22:C, 23:B, 24:D, 25:D - The others all published new books this year – McCarthy published two – but Lively announced her retirement , 26:A - Diego Garcia by Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams, 27:B - The game is a real-life version of the one that appears in Gabrielle Zevin’s novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, 28:B, 29:C - Police commissioner Mark Rowley wrote The Sleep of Reason with David Derbyshire, 30:A, 31:B - The book he referenced is Out of the Blue by Harry Cole and James Heale, 32:C, 33:D - This was revealed in The Fall of Boris Johnson by Sebastian Payne., 34:B, 35:C, 36:B, 37:A, 38:C, 39:D, 40:C, 41:C, 42:D - The Happy Prince was read by a Miss A Bennie, who was known as The Lady of the Magic Carpet., 43:A, 44:D, 45:B, 46:C, 47:B, 48:C, 49:D, 50:A

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   Well done!