Why Did I Buy This Book? Read online

  24. Bill ________ his bed every morning, even on days that the ________ was coming.

  25. Keith began to ________ when he saw how his lawn had not been ________ for a month.

  Memory Box #1

  Where did that file go? What time is my meeting? Short-term memory taking a little snooze on the job? Perk it up with this memory puzzle.

  Take a close look at the images on this page. Give yourself a minute. Then, turn the page and see how many questions you can answer.

  answers on page 322

  1. How many computers were there?

  2. What day is it?

  3. Is the founder male or female?

  4. How many coffee cups were there?

  5. How many had only one stripe?

  6. Was the cooler half full or a quarter empty?

  7. In what city is this office found?

  8. Could the phone have been ringing?

  9. Were all-time high sales in February or April?

  10. How many potted plants are there?

  Chapter Two:

  WHO WAS THAT?

  Plunge into this mixed bag of pop culture and history trivia questions and take a little trip (don’t fall!) down memory lane.

  Music, visual cues, and story recall are great ways to stimulate the cerebral cortex. It’s all about making connections. Over the years your brain makes shortcuts allowing you to multitask and be more efficient. In the long run, though, you want to override those shortcuts and create new pathways. Trivia and content challenges are a great way to perk up pathways. Recalling subjects like books, movies, and music can create new pathways and get you sizzling cerebrally!

  So get a little brain blast from the past. Name those tunes, discover some fun film facts, and test your book IQ, literally.

  Sing It!

  We know the songs, we love the words, but what’s the name of that song? Dig deep into your memory vault and try your hand, and ear, at these musical questions.

  answers on pages 322-324

  1. Name Paul Simon’s song about extraction.

  2. What ecosystem did America get through? And how did they travel?

  3. Where was the Monkees’ final train headed?

  4. Name Simon and Garfunkel’s song about the power of listening.

  5. Name these three B-52’s songs: the one about the crustacean, the one about the northwestern state, and the one about the amorous construction.

  6. What is Joni Mitchell’s geometric pastime?

  7. Name these two songs by David Byrne’s band—the one about an inferno and the one that you might want right afterward.

  8. Bill Clinton and Al Gore used this Fleetwood Mac song for a campaign message.

  9. Name Peter Gabriel’s shocking song about primates.

  10. What are these three James Taylor songs? The one about a part of a building, the one about a guy moving along on foot, and the one about a construction vehicle.

  11. Name Elvis’s two “blue” songs.

  12. What color do the Rolling Stones want to paint things?

  13. What does BTO stand for and what do they think you’ve seen?

  14. Who’s got a mohair suit and electric boots? What song is she in and who sang it?

  15. What is Led Zeppelin’s famous passage up?

  16. What is Lynryd Skynyrd’s blue-skied home- sweet-home song?

  17. What is Tom Jones’s famous feline inquiry?

  18. Who sang the “Monster Mash”?

  19. What was Dusty Springfield’s song about a relative of a man of the cloth?

  20. Name the three Police guys and then name their first hit.

  21. What was MTV’s very first video?

  22. Who sang backup on Carly Simon’s hit “You’re So Vain”?

  23. What do the letters in ABBA stand for?

  24. What kind of weather did Seals and Crofts sing about?

  25. Who was “Reelin’ in the Years” in 1972?

  I Think I Saw This One Already: Film Trivia

  These questions are all based on the silver screen. Remember when you saw these stars and their pictures? Who were you with and where did you see them? Test your knowledge of movie trivia.

  answers on pages 324-327

  1. Which of the following lines was NOT from Casablanca? “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

  “One thing I can’t stand, it’s a dame that’s drunk.”

  “We’ll always have Paris.”

  “I stick my neck out for nobody.”

  “Round up the usual suspects.”

  2. Who among the following was NOT a member of Hollywood’s famous “Rat Pack”? Frank Sinatra

  Dean Martin

  Jerry Lewis

  Peter Lawford

  Sammy Davis Jr.

  3. What do the following actors have in common? Woody Allen

  Warren Beatty

  George Clooney

  Clint Eastwood

  Mel Gibson

  Gene Kelly

  4. In Shakespeare’s time, it was common for male actors to assume both male and female roles in the Bard’s plays. Match up the following modern actors with movies in which they masqueraded as women:

  1. Ray Bolger

  A. Tootsie

  2. Tony Curtis

  B. Some Like It Hot

  3. Dustin Hoffman

  C. Hairspray

  4. Nathan Lane

  D. Mrs. Doubtfire

  5. John Travolta

  E. Where’s Charley?

  6. Robin Williams

  F. The Birdcage

  5. Name the famous film director whose signature was making brief, nonspeaking cameo appearances in each of his movies.

  6. Which of the following actors did NOT appear in any film version of a Shakespearean play? Mel Gibson

  Kevin Kline

  Al Pacino

  Sean Penn

  Denzel Washington

  Orson Welles

  7. During the Johnny Carson years of The Tonight Show, several well-known personalities served as guest host. Which of the following filled in for Johnny the greatest number of times? Jerry Lewis

  Bob Newhart

  Joey Bishop

  Joan Rivers

  David Brenner

  David Letterman

  8. Match the following actors with the real people they portrayed on the silver screen:

  1. Leonardo DiCaprio

  A. Charlie Chaplin

  2. Robert Downey Jr.

  B. Charles Lindbergh

  3. Charlton Heston

  C. George M. Cohan

  4. Jack Nicholson

  D. Jimmy Hoffa

  5. Brad Pitt

  E. Howard Hughes

  6. James Stewart

  F. Michelangelo

  7. James Cagney

  G. Jesse James

  9. Two leading actors have played the life of composer Cole Porter in films named after two of his songs, Night and Day in 1946 and De-Lovely in 2004. Name the actors.

  10. Actor Gary Burghoff was the only cast member of the 1970 film M*A*S*H to become a regular on the popular television series. Identify the role he played in both versions.

  11. Which of these women holds the record for most Academy Awards for best actress? Ingrid Bergman

  Bette Davis

  Jane Fonda

  Katharine Hepburn

  Meryl Streep

  Elizabeth Taylor

  12. Which of these actors NEVER played British agent James Bond on screen? Sean Connery

  Daniel Craig

  Timothy Dalton

  Hugh Grant

  George Lazenby

  Roger Moore

  David Niven

  13. A famous Oscar-winning film director holds the distinction of having directed Academy Award-winning performances by his father in The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948) and his daughter in Prizzi’s Honor (1985). Can you identify this talented theatrical trio?

  14. Which of these films garnered the most Oscar nominations for a single picture? Go
ne with the Wind (1939)

  The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

  Patton (1970)

  The Godfather: Part II (1974)

  Titanic (1997)

  Chicago (2002)

  15. Name the actress who played the love interest of the following leading men in different films: Nicolas Cage

  Russell Crowe

  Billy Crystal

  Tom Hanks

  Kevin Kline

  Hugh Jackman

  16. Aside from the fact that they were produced in the same decade, what did these movie musicals have in common? West Side Story (1961)

  My Fair Lady (1964)

  The Sound of Music (1965)

  Oliver! (1968)

  17. What successful Hollywood film director got his start in show business as an actor in two hugely popular TV comedy series, one as a child star and the other as a teen star?

  18. What do the following film stars have in common? Dan Aykroyd

  Joan Cusack

  Robert Downey Jr.

  Will Ferrell

  Eddie Murphy

  Ben Stiller

  19. Name the parent-offspring acting duos who appeared together in these films: Paper Moon (1973)

  On Golden Pond (1981)

  Wall Street (1987)

  It Runs in the Family (2003)

  The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

  The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

  20. What famous fictional character was played by each of these actors over the years? Alistair Sim (1951)

  Albert Finney (1970)

  George C. Scott (1984)

  Patrick Stewart (1999)

  Kelsey Grammer (2004)

  21. The Beatles made several rollicking full-length films together in the 1960s. What was the title of the very first one in 1964?

  22. What do these film actors have in common? Christian Bale

  George Clooney

  Michael Keaton

  Val Kilmer

  Adam West

  23. More than three dozen movies have been made from novels by this popular author, including Carrie (1976), Stand by Me (1986), The Shawshank Redemption (1994); and Secret Window (2004). Name the writer.

  24. Match the following actresses with characters they portrayed on screen:

  1. Vivien Leigh

  A. Norma Desmond

  2. Helen Mirren

  B. Erin Brockovich

  3. Julia Roberts

  C. Miss Daisy

  4. Gloria Swanson

  D. Queen Elizabeth II

  5. Jessica Tandy

  E. Maggie the Cat

  6. Elizabeth Taylor

  F. Scarlett O’Hara

  25. In eight decades of Academy Awards ceremonies, who hosted or cohosted the show more times than any other celebrity?

  Book Worm

  Dust off your jacket and see if you can remember the ins and outs of these great books and their characters.

  answers on pages 327–330

  1. Match the character with the novel:

  1. Holden Caulfield

  A. The Grapes of Wrath

  (John Steinbeck)

  2. Atticus Finch

  B. The Catcher in the Rye

  (J. D. Salinger)

  3. Lord Voldemort

  C. To Kill a Mockingbird

  (Harper Lee)

  4. Tom Joad

  D. Great Expectations

  (Charles Dickens)

  5. Pip

  E. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

  (J. K. Rowling)

  2. Match the real names of these writers with their pseudonyms:

  1. Eric Arthur Blair

  A. Mark Twain

  2. Samuel Clemens

  B. Richard Bachman

  3. Theodore Geisel

  C. George Orwell

  4. Stephen King

  D. O. Henry

  5. William Sydney Porter

  E. Dr. Seuss

  3. Name the only president of the United States to win a Pulitzer Prize for a book he wrote prior to his election.

  4. Which one of these authors has had the most novels turned into full-length feature films? Charles Dickens

  Nora Ephron

  John Grisham

  Stephen King

  John Steinbeck

  5. Which one of the following prolific authors NEVER wrote a detective or spy story? William F. Buckley

  Graham Greene

  Norman Mailer

  Dorothy Parker

  Edgar Allan Poe

  6. What do the following book titles have in common? Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

  The Dogs of War (Frederick Forsyth)

  Perchance to Dream (Robert B. Parker)

  Pomp and Circumstance (Noël Coward)

  The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner)

  7. Don’t be fooled: Who wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas?

  8. By the numbers now, which writers wrote which books?

  1. Ray Bradbury

  A. Slaughterhouse-Five

  2. Joseph Heller

  B. Fahrenheit 451

  3. George Orwell

  C. The Hundred and One Dalmatians

  4. Dodie Smith

  D. Catch-22

  5. Kurt Vonnegut

  E. 1984

  9. Which of these African-American female writers preceded all the others on this list? Maya Angelou

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Toni Morrison

  Alice Walker

  Phyllis Wheatley

  10. Which one of the following writers on black themes does NOT qualify as African-American as we know the term? James Baldwin

  Ralph Ellison

  Alex Haley

  William Styron

  Richard Wright

  11. In May 2008, what phenomenally popular author did not have a book appearing in at least one category of the New York Times weekly best-seller lists for the first time in ten straight years?

  12. Fill in the missing initials: 1. __ __ Doctorow

  2. __ Scott Fitzgerald

  3. __ __ Mencken

  4. __ __ __ Tolkien

  5. __ __ White

  13. Identify the all-time best-selling book still in print.

  14. On a list of “100 Best Novels” compiled by the Modern Library in 1998, books by James Joyce took two of the first three top spots. Name those books.

  15. Here are five opening lines to famous novels. Identify the books and their authors: 1. “Call me Ishmael.”

  2. “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

  3. “Somewhere in La Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing.”

  4. “It was a pleasure to burn.”

  5. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

  16. From another novel by one of the authors listed in Question 15, what title character uttered these last words before being hanged? “God bless Captain Vere!”

  17. Link these Ernest Hemingway novels with the countries in which they were set:

  1. Across the

  River and into the Trees

  A. Cuba

  2. A Farewell to Arms

  B. United States and Cuba

  3. For Whom the Bell Tolls

  C. Spain

  4. To Have and Have Not

  D. France and Spain

  5. The Old Man and the Sea

  E. Italy

  6. The Sun Also Rises

  F. Italy and Switzerland

  18. Which one of the following superheroes did NOT originate as a comic-strip or comic-book character? Batman

  The Phantom

  Sp
ider-man

  Superman

  Tarzan

  19. Match the authors with their well-read “Red” books:

  1. Tom Clancy

  A. The Red and the Black

  2. Stephen Crane

  B. The Red Pony

  3. Wilson Rawls

  C. The Little Red Book

  4. John Steinbeck

  D. The Hunt for Red October

  5. Stendhal

  E. Where the Red Fern Grows

  6. Mao Zedong

  F. The Red Badge of Courage

  20. On August 6, 1975, for the only time in its history, the New York Times published a front-page obituary of a popular fictional character to mark the release of Curtain, the last in a long series of books chronicling his adventures as a private detective. Can you name this singularly honored character?

  21. Name the hard-boiled Raymond Chandler detective portrayed variously in movies by Humphrey Bogart, Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum, Robert Montgomery, and Dick Powell.

  22. Match the authors to the famous horror stories they created:

  1. Dracula