Literature Trivia

130+ Literature Trivia Questions For Bookworms

Book trivia will test your knowledge of different authors and genres. Whether you’re looking for children’s literature trivia, YA trivia, or adult trivia, you can find it right here! Here are some interesting literature trivia questions that will encourage you to read more books!

Literature Trivia Quiz Questions:

Which of her own characters did Agatha Christie call “a detestable, bombastic, tiresome, egocentric little creep”?

Hercule Poirot.

The Da Vinci Code opens with a murder in which famous museum?

The Louvre.

In Stephen King‘s 11/22/63, a high school English teacher hurtles back in time to 1963 and attempts to stop what monumental event?

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Veronica Roth’s Divergent book series is set in a post-apocalyptic version of which U. S. city?

Chicago.

What is the best-selling novel of all time?

Don Quixote.

Who was the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Gao Xingjian.

What novel is set on a desert planet inhabited by giant sandworms?

Dune.

What was the working title of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel Gone With the Wind?

Ba! Ba! Black Sheep.

How many of Ernest Hemingway’s ten novels were published posthumously?

Three.

What is the name of the poem John Keats wrote to a singing bird?

Ode To A Nightingale.

What dystopian novel by George Orwell told of life in a future totalitarian state dominated by “Big Brother”?

Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Which Stephen King novel takes place mostly in the fictional Overlook Hotel?

The Shining.

What author wrote his last novel in crayon?

James Joyce.

In what language was Don Quixote written?

Spanish.

What names did Charles Dickens consider for his character in A Christmas Carol before settling on “Tiny Tim”?

“Small Sam” and “Puny Pete”.

What word did Robert A. Heinlein introduce into the English language in his book Stranger in a Strange Land? 

Grok.

Who is probably the father of Caddy’s child in The Sound and the Fury?

Dalton Ames.

What is the name of Captain Ahab’s ship?

Pequod.

What do the initials J. D. stand for in author J. D. Salinger’s name?

Jerome David.

The book Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen takes place in what era?

1930’s.

blue and white floral wall decor
Unsplash / Joyce McCown

Which actor played the role of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, adapted from the book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald?

Leonardo DiCaprio.

In which town is the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee set?

Maycomb, Alabama.

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights recounts the tragic romance between which two lovers?

Catherine and Heathcliff.

What is the name of Jane Austen’s last unfinished novel?

Sanditon.

How many volumes are in Marcel Proust’s novel à La Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time)?

Seven.

What was the working title of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel Gone With the Wind?

Bugles Sang True.

Who wrote Rip Van Winkle?

Washington Irving.

The book The Martian Chronicles was written by whom?

Ray Bradbury.

Chronologically, this novel comes first in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

During which century was John Milton’s Paradise Lost written?

1700.

Who is the author of the book A Brave New World?

Aldous Huxley.

Who is Leopold Bloom’s wife in Ulysses?

Molly.

The hero Beowulf faces a monster known by what name?

Grendel.

The phrase “dark horse” comes from what 1831 novel?

The Young Duke.

In what Philip K. Dick novel does bounty hunter Rick Deckard track down a group of androids?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, many humans leave Earth for which planet?

Mars.

What is the name of John’s true love in Nicholas Sparks’ Dear John?

Savannah.

How many rejections did Louis L’Amour receive before being published?

200 rejections.

What was the first book sold on Amazon.com?

Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.

Who did C.S. Lewis base the protagonist of his Space Trilogy on?

J.R.R. Tolkien.

black framed eyeglasses on white printer paper
Unsplash / Marylou Fortier

A Dance with Dragons, the fifth book of A Song of Ice and Fire series, was authored by whom?

George R. R. Martin.

What Spanish author wrote more than 5,000 novels?

Corín Tellado.

What was the first novel ever written?

The Tale of Genji.

Which story authored by Washington Irving has the character Ichabod Crane?

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

What was the original title of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451?

The Fireman.

What is the title of the third book in the series Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy?

Life, The Universe, and Everything.

What is the name of the author who wrote The Book Thief?

Markus Zusak.

In what year was Of Mice and Men published?

1937.

In which state do Mark Twain’s characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn live?

Missouri.

What is the smallest book in the Welsh National Library?

Old King Cole.

What Russian dramatist wrote The Inspector General?

Nikolai Gogol.

What novel features a character named D-503?

We.

What happened to the original manuscript of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men?

Steinbeck’s dog, Toby, devoured an early draft.

What poet wrote the following lines: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I… I took the one less traveled by”?

Robert Frost.

What famous author was a descendant of one of the Salem witches?

Ray Bradbury.

The U2 song Shadows and Tall Trees is taken from a chapter title in what famous book?

Lord of the Flies.

Who is the only author to publish books in 9 of the 10 Dewey Decimal categories?

Isaac Asimov.

What famous literary character offers this sage advice: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”?

Polonius.

What writer coined the phrase “ships that pass in the night”?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

What is the subtitle of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

The Modern Prometheus.

Which of Shakespeare’s plays features a sorcerer named Prospero?

The Tempest.

What novel features characters named Ayla, Broud, Creb, and Iza?

The Clan of the Cave Bear.

Who is the protagonist of The Hunger Games?

Katniss Everdeen.

What famous novelist once dated the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill?

J.D. Salinger.

Which character is pregnant at the beginning of The Grapes of Wrath?

Rose of Sharon.

What percent of books sold in the U.S. in 2004 sold more than 5,000 copies?

2 percent.

What novel begins with: “Call me Ishmael”?

Moby Dick.

What writer had more than 70 different pen names?

Lauran Bosworth Paine.

At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, what is their only means of making fire?

Piggy’s glasses.

Classic Literature Trivia:

pink flower on book page
Unsplash / Ergita Sela

Bookish trivia is the best way to get interested in reading more novels. Here are some more interesting trivia questions about best sellers and Pulitzer prize-winning books:

E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey was originally fan fiction for which book series? 

The Twilight Series.

What did Aldous Huxley and C. S. Lewis have in common?

They both died on November 22, 1963.

What is the name of the series that used second-person perspective and turned the reader into the one deciding the outcome of the books?

Choose Your Own Adventure.

Which science fiction author wrote Starship Troopers?

Robert A. Heinlein.

Sir Walter Scott is known for his historical novels about which country?

Scotland.

The story of the Dashwood sisters is stated in which classic novel by Jane Austen?

Sense And Sensibility.

What published book centers around marriage during the Victorian era, describing the fascination that a group of sisters have over one man?

Pride and Prejudice.

What children’s novel features the characters Tweedledee and Tweedledum?

Alice Through the Looking Glass.

How many ghosts visited Scrooge?

Four.

What classic book written by Oscar Wilde has to do with immortality?

The Picture of Dorian Gray.

What is the name of one of the most adapted characters from the famous novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?

Sherlock Holmes.

What color was Anna Karenina’s bag in the Tolstoy novel of the same name?

Red.

First published in 1842, The Masque of the Red Death is a short story by which American writer?

Edgar Allan Poe.

George Eliot is the pen name of which author?

Mary Ann Evans.

In which year did Charles Dickens die?

1870.

What play by Tennessee Williams contains characters named “Big Daddy” and “Big Mama”?

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

What is the name of the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter?

Hester Prynne.

When was the first Harry Potter book published?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Who wrote the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are?

Maurice Sendak.

According to legend, who was King Arthur’s wife?

Guinevere.

In the book, The Once And Future King, what is the name of Merlin’s owl?

Archimedes.

What was the first fiction novel to be published in English?

Robinson Crusoe.

Who introduced the phrase, ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’?

William Shakespeare.

How old was Mary Shelley when she started writing Frankenstein?

18 years old.

The Lion King is a movie loosely inspired by which of Shakespeare’s dramas?

Hamlet.

What type of animal is Bagheera in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book?

A panther.

Who is the director of the 2019 movie Little Women adapted from Louisa May Alcott’s book?

Greta Gerwig.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a series based on which author’s book?

Jay Asher.

Who played the role of Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga?

Robert Pattinson.

In which year did the movie based on Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook get released?

2004.

Who played the role of Elizabeth Bennet in the movie based on Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice?

Keira Knightley.

Who wrote The Da Vinci Code?

Dan Brown.

Who is the author of The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind?

Dr. Joseph Murphy.

To The Lighthouse is a book written by which classic period author?

Virginia Woolf.

What is the name of the protagonist in John Green’s Looking For Alaska?

Miles Halter.

What is the name of the memoir written by Michelle Obama in 2018?

Becoming.

Mariam and Laila are the protagonists of which book written by Khaled Hosseini?

A Thousand Splendid Suns.

In the book Curious George, who is the monkey’s companion?

The man in the yellow hat.

How many books are in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series written by Stieg Larsson?

Three books.

Santiago, a Shepherd boy, is the protagonist of which book written by Paulo Coelho?

The Alchemist.

Which detective series focuses on two brothers, Frank and Joe, solving mysteries?

The Hardy Boys.

What is the name of Tom Sawyer’s best friend in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

Huckleberry Finn.

Who wrote Charlotte’s Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Stuart Little?

E. B. White.

The Kite Runner is the first published book of which author?

Khaled Hosseini.

What are the names of the three musketeers in the book written by Alexandre Dumas?

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

Which classic book by J. M. Barrie opens with the line, “All children, except one, grew up”?

Peter Pan.

Who wrote the political satire also loved as a children’s book titled Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

Lewis Carroll.

Who wrote the book, Lord Of The Flies?

William Golding.

What Belgian book series became a long-running cartoon series about blue people who were only three apples tall?

The Smurfs.

Which children’s story, begins with a boat being wrecked in the middle of nowhere during a sea storm and a family’s survival as they live on an island?

Swiss Family Robinson.

What is the name of Stephen King’s first published novel?

Carrie.

What kind of hat does the cat wear in the Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat?

A red and white striped top hat.

What was the name of Sherlock Holmes’ arch enemy?

Professor Moriarty.

Which author wrote about a boy named Charlie visiting a chocolate factory after winning a golden ticket?

Roald Dahl.

What color is Pippi’s hair in Pippi Longstocking?

Orange.

In the book Freaky Friday, Annabel changes bodies with whom?

Her mother.

What popular Disney movie, with Julie Andrews as the “practically perfect” nanny, was originally a novel written by P. L. Travers?

Mary Poppins.

Which first book in the series by Hugh Lofting is named after the main character, who has the ability to talk to animals?

The Story of Dr. Dolittle.

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, what type of animal is Boxer?

A horse.

How many siblings did Jane Austen have?

Seven (six brothers and one sister).

How many seasons does the book-adapted TV series The Vampire Diaries have?

Eight.

What is the name of the first published novel by Leo Tolstoy?

War And Peace.

What is used as the portal to Narnia in C. S. Lewis’ children’s fantasy series?

A wardrobe.

2001: A Space Odyssey features which artificially intelligent computer?

HAL.

What novel ends with the following line: “It is a far better thing I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known”?

A Tale of Two Cities.

More Trivia Quizzes:

There are plenty of more quizzes you can take if you want to test your knowledge in different areas.

January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. January graduated with an English and Literature degree from Columbia University.