PILFERAGES 2014Our Books, Their Books

A Quiz on Popular Fiction by

VENKATESH SRINIVASAN and

VIVEK KARTHIKEYAN

THIS QUIZ IS ABOUT

James Joyce Hadley Chase

Sidney Poitier Sheldon

John Steinbeck Grisham

Harold Pinter Robbins

……….

SOME GROUND RULES

40 questions, all-written, for Teams of 2

*-marked questions to resolve ties

No negatives, please take guesses

All parts carry one point each, a total of 54 points to be made

Prizes for the Top 3 teams

1.

Ari Hiltunen is an author who has written a book that

analyses what the great philosopher Aristotle was trying

to say about the nature of drama and storytelling.

According to one of his observations, “Aristotle's concept

of fear can best be understood by the word _______. The

audience are aware of threatening danger and would like to

warn the character but of course cannot do so.”

Fill in the blank with a word that is relevant to

this quiz.

The Answer is….

Suspense

2. Connect with an author’s name.

The Answer is….

Ken Follett

- Torus

- The Man from St.. Petersburg

- Hammer of Eden

- Hornet Flight

3. Identify the lady character from these three

different depictions.

The Answer is….

Della Street

4. Originally published in 1993, this set of books can be

considered India’s first English crime fiction output.

Identify the author, who has gone on to make a name

for himself as a prolific writer in another genre, and as a

TV series writer.

The Answer is….

Ashok Banker

*5. Identify the name of

this magazine. Published

continuously from 1924 to

1995, it featured real-life crime

and criminals. It also published

work by authors like Dashiel

Hammett. This two-word

name has become familiar the

world-over because of an

unrelated hunt for a serial killer

in Louisiana.

The Answer is….

True Detective

6. Fill in the blanks in the last line of this book.

The Answer is….

Shall We Tell the President?

7. Connect

The Answer is….

Alexander Mcall Smith

- Author of #1 Ladies Detective Agency

- Author of a new version of Emma

8. Who is credited as

the author in this

re-imagination of his

1975 ‘work’?

The Answer is….

Robert A Zimmerman (0.5 for Bob Dylan)

9. This book reached the

highest position for a debut

author in the US bestseller

list, since JK Rowling. The

essential plot element is the

alliterative condition suffered

by the protagonist, Christine

Lucas, similar to the

condition suffered by a

couple of Sanjays in

Tamil/Hindi cinema. What?

The Answer is….

Anterograde Amnesia

*10. Which book is being reviewed?

Forget the movie, forget handsome sexy Burt Lancaster and beauteous

Deborah Kerr canoodling on the sand, forget another awful acting

performance by ham-actor Frank Sinatra, forget the over-

melodramatization by director Fred Zinnemann, this book is full of

violence, boredom, drunkenness, suicide, gambling, whoring, existential

crises, self-loathing, ugliness, and degradation in Hawai’i in the months

leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. And it’s long, 850 pages of the

stuff, with an unrelenting style of malleable words in its narrative and

dialogue. Reminded me a bit of Celine, unmitigated pressure, a cross

between hell and purgatory set against the backdrop of paradise in the

Hawaiian Islands. If Jones didn’t have Dante in mind when he wrote this,

I’d be surprised.

The Answer is….

From Here to Eternity

11. Piranha to Scurfy is the title of this collection of short

stories by this famous British crime writer, published in

2000. It is named after the first story in this collection, in

which the protagonist is obsessed with finding factual

mistakes in published books, and uses a number of

reference books for the same. He also has a dominating

mother, who in a fit of rage he kills using something he

finds on his study table.

Who is the author? What does the story title

refer to?

The Answer is….

Ruth Rendell

Volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica

12. This is a 1983 film

adaptation of a novel of the

same name by which

author?

The same novel was adapted

into a Hindi film that year.

Which film?

The Answer is….

Eric Segal

Masoom

13. This is the first version of

the book and was self-

published by the author. After

Westland acquired the rights

to this and published it, what

change happened, which is

reflected in the newer

version of the book and the

author’s subsequent books?

The Answer is….

Ashwin Sanghi reverted to his original name

14. This is a 2013 film adaptation of the first book of

which bestselling series (of 6 books)? Also, name the

author.

The Answer is….

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

*15. Identify the speaker and the character being

discussed.

The Answer is….

Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling

Cormoran Strike

16. The protagonist of this book cranks

out “penny dreadful” prose, first in the

form of a weekly newspaper serial called

“The Mysteries of _____” — his

hometown — and later, under the

pseudonym Ignatius B. Samson, in a

monthly series of books entitled “City of

the Damned,”. Published in Spanish and

translated into English, the book follows a

bestseller by the same author set in the

same city, and is also centred around a

book obtained from the “Cemetery of

Forgotten Books”. Name the first book

and the city the two books are set

in.

The Answer is….

The Shadow of the Wind

Barcelona

17. Which author (writing

under a pseudonym)? Which

author’s work is he reviving? The opening lines are, "It was one

of those summer Tuesday

afternoons when you begin to

wonder if the earth has stopped

revolving. The telephone on my

desk had the look of something

that knows it's being watched.

Traffic trickled by in the street

below, and there were a few

pedestrians, too, men in hats going

nowhere."

The Answer is….

John Banville

Raymond Chandler

18. VardiWaala Gunda starts with the corrupt activities of Inspector Deshraaj at Prataapgarh (a fictitious police station in a Southern state of India) where a foreign militant organization - Star Force has set terror for years. The militants get financial aid and arms (and of course, instructions) from their orgn. active in a neighbouring country - Sri Ganga. Star Force is planning to assassinate a popular leader - Chiranjeev Kumar upon whose instigation, the Indian armed forces had been sent to Sri Ganga to crush Star Force. How Chiranjeev Kumar is assassinated despite all his security arrangements, how Tejasvi himself becomes the next chief minister of the state, how he eradicates Star Force himself as well as reveals the true identity of Black Star and finally how himself gets killed afterwards, forms the remaining part of the novel.

This is the synopsis of one of India’s best-selling pulp works, 1.5 Mncopies, in 1992. Who is the author and what is the book based on?

The Answer is….

Ved Prakash Sharma

Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE

19. A graphic novel that was released to promote a 2012

film, which was itself using the title of a 1977 film.

Name the film / the protagonist of this novel.

The Answer is….

Agent Vinod

*20. Apparently considered by

Agatha Christie as the

sub-continent’s only original

detective fiction writer, he

wrote under the pen name that

means “son of the righteous”.

He has a 120-book work titled

the Imran Series about Ali Imran,

the secret chief of the Secret

Service and another 125-book

series called Jasoosi Duniya,

which he wrote from 1952 to

1979. Identify the author.

The Answer is….

Ibn-e-Safi (whose real name was Asrar Ahmed)

21.

In anatomy it is a small tubular gland, pit, or recess. Its

other meaning of an underground room or vault beneath

a church, used as a chapel or burial place, comes from the

old Greek and Latin words for ‘hidden’.

What is this term that is typically seen in horror

anthologies?

The Answer is….

Crypt, from the Greek kryptos

As in the1950s EC Comics series

22.

His varied journalistic assignments as a crime reporter inspired the Just Men series, and foreign correspondent assignments to places like the Belgian Congo triggered Sanders of the River.

His novel, The Gaunt Stranger, was turned into a stage play by Sir Gerald who was the son of French novelist, artist and Punch illustrator Sir George—father of an equally accomplished Dame.

Who is the writer, and which is the other famous family? (1 + 1)

The Answer is….

Edgar Wallace

The du Mauriers

23.

Writing under the pseudonym Barnaby Ross, they

created a fictional detective—a retired Shakespearian

actor who left the theatre because he lost his sense of

hearing.

This character’s name is also the name of a West End

theatre site, possibly the oldest theatre site in the

London still in use.

For a point each, tell us who are Barnaby Ross

and what’s the name of the detective?

The Answer is….

Ellery Queen

Drury Lane

24.

His is one of the first names that come to mind when thinking of pulpy novels, but his earlier ones were masterpieces. They include a heart-breaking 1951 story about the coming-of-age and misspent youth of a Jewish kid. This movie is based on the book.

Name the author and the book. (1 + 1)

The Answer is….

*25.

In this, his first appearance

back in 1925, he solves a

murder mystery in his own

Honolulu. He doesn’t speak

his first words until page 82,

and they are typically

ungrammatical: “No knife are

present in neighbourhood of

crime.”

Who?

The Answer is….

Charlie Chan

26.

C.W. Grafton, better known as Sue Grafton’s dad,

embarked on one of detective fiction's most original

title patterns with the critically acclaimed The Rat Began

to Gnaw the Rope followed by The Rope Began to Hang

the Butcher, a ten-volume series about a Kentucky

Lawyer Gil Henry.

That he stopped after just two volumes is regrettable.

What would have been the title of the third book

had he continued writing?

The Answer is….

The butcher began to kill the Ox

Following the nursery rhyme:

The rat began to gnaw the rope

The rope began to hang the butcher

The butcher began to kill the ox

The ox began to drink the water

The water began to quench the fire

The fire began to burn the stick…

27.

Who, talking about what in this paraphrased interview?

There are several reasons. First, every ______ has a good story. We

get involved with people who have messed up their lives, and their

mistakes make fascinating stories. Street ______ see the underbelly

of society. Corporate ______ see high-stakes shenanigans... ______

think they can add a twist here and a subplot there and produce a

real thriller. Second, most ______ would rather be doing something

else. The profession is overcrowded and the competition is fierce.

Most of the work is terribly boring. There is tremendous

dissatisfaction within the profession, and almost every ______ I

know is looking for a way out.

The Answer is….

John Grisham on the rash of lawyer-written

suspense novels

28.

The basic plot is about an attorney who catches a rapist Max Cady in the act, testifies against him and is instrumental in Cady going to prison. Cady holds a deep grudge and after he gets out he stalks the lawyer’s family, and his vendetta escalates to killing anyone Cady thinks is close to the lawyer and his people.

Based on a psychological thriller by John D MacDonald, the story was made into two movies carrying the same name, one each in 1962 and the other in 1991.

What were they called?

The Answer is….

Cape Fear

29.

Settling down in the borderlands between North

Carolina and Kentucky, the family divided into three

clans—“Smoky Mountain”, “Cumberland Gap” and

“Clinch Mountain”.

There is also the “Flatland” clan, but they make rare

appearances. The Smoky Mountain breed produce some

of the most memorable characters, including William Tell

and his brothers Tyrel and Orrin.

Who are we referring to?

The Answer is….

The Sacketts

by Louis L’Amour

*30. For one point each, name an author, a character (the

first set of pics) and what connects him with the second

set of pictures? (a few words in explanation)

The Answer is….

Tom Clancy

Jack Ryan

Ryan issued a foreign policy doctrine which largely

defined his administration's international perspective,

similar to the Monroe Doctrine

31.

Mr. Romance is a 2005 US reality TV show which aired

on Oxygen. It was created by Gene Simmons and hosted

by Fabio Lanzoni.

It featured twelve contestants and each week they would

take part in a series of events.

What were the events, which would ultimately

lead to a lucrative assignment as a grand prize?

The Answer is….

Photo-shoots for romance novel covers

32.

This book is based on two sources—

an account of a 10th-century Muslim

who travels with a group of Vikings to

their settlement, and a 3182-line-long

work which is in a manuscript known

as the Nowell Codex, located in the

British Library.

Which work, said to be the oldest

such work that is still surviving,

will one find in the Nowell Codex?

The Answer is….

Beowulf

33.

His first non-fiction work, The Sea Hunters, was

released in 1996. The Board of Governors of the

Maritime College, State University of New York,

considered The Sea Hunters in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis and

awarded him a Doctor of Letters degree in May, 1997.

Which internationally recognized authority on

shipwrecks wrote it?

The Answer is….

Clive Cussler

34.

The 1961 film adaptation of the book inspired the name

of the series on the right. Which series that ran for a

lengthy twelve years from 1984-96?

The Answer is….

Murder, She Wrote

*35.

Connect the four movies.

The Answer is….

All based on works by Ira Levin

36.

Carr’s mastery saw this novel selected as the best of all time by a panel of writers.

This book could also be used as a tutorial. In Chapter 17, Dr Gideon Fell, a detective gives an extensive explanation of the nuances of something which many writers have tried to master.

What circumstances that are also seen in Dorothy L. Sayers's Have His Carcase and Georgette Heyer'sEnvious Casca among others?

The Answer is….

Locked Room Mystery

37.

An author and his character cannot have a more

prominent resemblance to each other, than these two.

Was the hero made after his own image, we don’t know.

Name both (1 + 1).

The Answer is….

George Simenon and Inspector Maigret

38.

In 1984, when a new wing was proposed for the National

Gallery of London, Prince Charles is said to have

remarked that it was a “monstrous _________ on the

face of a much-loved and elegant friend,” likening it to a

large boil, infected and with pus.

This meaning of the word comes from the fact that the

boil looks like an unfaceted stone, of which we are all

familiar with a specimen in a cooler shade.

What word?

The Answer is….

Carbuncle

39.

What thorough entertainment started in 1955 with

the one on the left and ended with the one on the right

in 1986?

The Answer is….

Alistair MacLean books

*40.

The link between violence and X was established in the mid-19th century, for the simple reason that they (X) became available only in that time period. An early example is Xavier de Montepin’s narration in P.L.M. Rigoloin 1886.

Belle Epoque crime stories often hesitated to make the link, because they did not want to risk implicating a symbol of progress and modernity with nefarious circumstances.

What was this link that some writers loved?

The Answer is….

Mysteries on trains