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Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers
From the author of Crazy English and The Miracle of Language, a fiendishly engrossing, thoroughly addictive volume of anecdotes, curiosities, and quizzes testing your knowledge of books from Genesis to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest..
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 29, 1994
4 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Richard Lederer
86 books67 followersRichard Lederer is the author of more than 35 books about language, history, and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series and his current book, The Gift of Age. He has been profiled in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker, People, and the National Enquirer and frequently appears on radio as a commentator on language. He has been named International Punster of the Year and Toastmasters International's Golden Gavel winner.
He is the father of author and poet Katy Lederer and poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.
He is the father of author and poet Katy Lederer and poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 7, 2022
Well, albeit that I did not originally read Richard Lederer and Michael Gilleland’s 1994 Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers on Open Library in order to actually test my own literary knowledge (but if I am to be perfectly honest more to check out theirs), when I tried some of the many literature and book themed trivia questions found in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers, I was immediately pretty well hooked (and enough so to perhaps even consider purchasing a copy of Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lover for my personal library).
For indeed and delightfully, in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers Richard Lederer and Michael Gilleland provide a nicely diverse and entertaining collection of themed questions, which majorly do provide a very nice and thorough examination of literary, of book knowledge but one where happily and for me also pleasantly surprisingly, different genres of literature are featured and asked questions about, so that Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers does thankfully not have the authors focussing primarily on prose, but also on drama, poetry, philosophical writing, mythology, the Bible and even a bit of non fiction, very appreciatively all encompassingly, although personally, I would definitely rather prefer it if in particular the Holy Bible and the Mythology chapters could have had their own separate trivia question tomes provided, as there is in my humble opinion just not enough time and space for Richard Lederer and Michael Gilleland in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers to be in my opinion adequately diverse and inclusive with regard to either the Bible or global, or world mythology.
But of course, Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers also pretty much demonstrates what has been my personal truth since first learning how to read, and namely the fact that I have always been pretty much a total reading and literature junkie and that I am indeed very proud and not at all ashamed of this, even though, let’s face it, sports and movie trivia aficionados would more than likely scoff at this and consider questions regarding literature a bit unimportant and non essential.
However, even with my personal enjoyment of Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers, the fact that I am someone with graduate degrees in literature (and namely a PhD in German language and literature) alo makes me not only a literature geek but also a very, a highly critical one. And even though I have indeed found Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers engaging, fun and a good general testing of one’s knowledge regarding books and literature, sorry, but Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers is just a bit too focussed on English language books and in particular on American and on British literature for me to consider more than a three star rating for Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers (as I certainly would expect more inclusions of non English speaking/writing authors and their works, and that I do find it pretty lacking that the only Canadian author encountered in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers is Margaret Atwood).
Furthermore and finally, I also do quite majorly take umbrage at Richard Lederer and Michael Gilleland including a question about Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers. Because not only do I find this supremely insulting for in my opinion justifiable both political and emotional reasons, considering how badly and how rantingly Mein Kampf is written, well, I for one honestly think that including Mein Kampf as a question in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers is at best totally ridiculous and also really and truly celebrates garbage, makes light of Adolf Hitler’s all encompassing evil and that he was indeed a truly horrible writer.
For indeed and delightfully, in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers Richard Lederer and Michael Gilleland provide a nicely diverse and entertaining collection of themed questions, which majorly do provide a very nice and thorough examination of literary, of book knowledge but one where happily and for me also pleasantly surprisingly, different genres of literature are featured and asked questions about, so that Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers does thankfully not have the authors focussing primarily on prose, but also on drama, poetry, philosophical writing, mythology, the Bible and even a bit of non fiction, very appreciatively all encompassingly, although personally, I would definitely rather prefer it if in particular the Holy Bible and the Mythology chapters could have had their own separate trivia question tomes provided, as there is in my humble opinion just not enough time and space for Richard Lederer and Michael Gilleland in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers to be in my opinion adequately diverse and inclusive with regard to either the Bible or global, or world mythology.
But of course, Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers also pretty much demonstrates what has been my personal truth since first learning how to read, and namely the fact that I have always been pretty much a total reading and literature junkie and that I am indeed very proud and not at all ashamed of this, even though, let’s face it, sports and movie trivia aficionados would more than likely scoff at this and consider questions regarding literature a bit unimportant and non essential.
However, even with my personal enjoyment of Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers, the fact that I am someone with graduate degrees in literature (and namely a PhD in German language and literature) alo makes me not only a literature geek but also a very, a highly critical one. And even though I have indeed found Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers engaging, fun and a good general testing of one’s knowledge regarding books and literature, sorry, but Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers is just a bit too focussed on English language books and in particular on American and on British literature for me to consider more than a three star rating for Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers (as I certainly would expect more inclusions of non English speaking/writing authors and their works, and that I do find it pretty lacking that the only Canadian author encountered in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers is Margaret Atwood).
Furthermore and finally, I also do quite majorly take umbrage at Richard Lederer and Michael Gilleland including a question about Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers. Because not only do I find this supremely insulting for in my opinion justifiable both political and emotional reasons, considering how badly and how rantingly Mein Kampf is written, well, I for one honestly think that including Mein Kampf as a question in Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers is at best totally ridiculous and also really and truly celebrates garbage, makes light of Adolf Hitler’s all encompassing evil and that he was indeed a truly horrible writer.
April 18, 2008
This was definitely for a book nerd like me. It was a lot of fun.
It showed me that I knew more than I thought, but also that I know a lot less than I thought, too. Make sense out of that!
This is simply a trivia book for book lovers as the title suggests. I did best on the Bible section.
It showed me that I knew more than I thought, but also that I know a lot less than I thought, too. Make sense out of that!
This is simply a trivia book for book lovers as the title suggests. I did best on the Bible section.
November 25, 2018
I was surprised at how much I knew in reading this and disappointed in how much I did not know!
This was a very interesting book and I feel like I have learned a lot by reading it.
This was a very interesting book and I feel like I have learned a lot by reading it.
November 17, 2020
Read and played along.
Example : Name authors with three names from the early 20th century. Anyone?
Example : Name authors with three names from the early 20th century. Anyone?
August 31, 2008
Fun and challenging trivia for book lovers.
Want to read
December 20, 2009Literary Trivia: Fun and Games for Book Lovers by Richard Lederer (1994)
August 29, 2011
Fun trivia questions - I'll keep it for sure and go back to it in a few years.
June 22, 2010
inscribed by author
January 24, 2015
Fun little trivia book for bibliophiles.
Read
December 31, 2016Worked my way through the whole thing. Lots of questions only an English major can answer and also think was fun.
May 1, 2017
Great book
It is one of the wonderful books I read ever. Everything given here are well researched materials and I think It had taken a lot pain to bring this book.
It is one of the wonderful books I read ever. Everything given here are well researched materials and I think It had taken a lot pain to bring this book.
February 26, 2023
I wish there'd be even more to this book. It was good but short.
And a tip: Don't read it on a eReader. It's too hard to take the tests that way!
And a tip: Don't read it on a eReader. It's too hard to take the tests that way!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews