By Ten questions, ranging from easy to genuinely hard. Answers are below each question: no scrolling past spoilers by accident.
1. What is the real first name of the author known as George Eliot?
Answer: Mary Ann Evans. She published under a male pen name to be taken seriously as a novelist in Victorian England.
2. Which novel begins with the line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”?
Answer: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
3. What is the profession of the protagonist in Lessons in Chemistry?
Answer: Chemist (who becomes a TV cooking show host).
4. Which prize did Demon Copperhead win in 2023, alongside the Pulitzer?
Answer: The Women’s Prize for Fiction, making it a rare double winner.
5. In The Hunger Games, what district is Katniss Everdeen from?
Answer: District 12.
6. Who wrote Percy Jackson and the Olympians?
Answer: Rick Riordan.
7. What real-world event is The One and Only Ivan based on?
Answer: A real gorilla named Ivan who was kept in a shopping mall enclosure in Tacoma, Washington, for 27 years.
8. What is the standard royalty range self-published authors typically earn on Amazon KDP ebooks?
Answer: 35% or 70%, depending on price point and territory.
9. Which classic novel’s opening line is “It is a truth universally acknowledged…”?
Answer: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
10. What genre does Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros belong to?
Answer: Fantasy romance (“romantasy”).
How Did You Score?
8–10: certified book nerd. 5–7: solid, casual reader. Under 5: you have a great excuse to read more of what’s on this site.
Related: 5 Classic Novels Worth Reading
Written by the BookPros editorial team
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