Famous First Lines Quiz.

[Urederra]

I found this quiz in a blog I use to visit:

http://www.gotoquiz.com/famous_first_lines_quiz

You Got 57% Right!

Nice. You might want to brush up on the classics, or you maybe didn't pay particular attention to first lines. Not a shabby score though! Nice going!

Not bad for a non-native English speaker.

I missed this line in the quiz: "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." Maybe it would be too easy to guess.

 

[Riffraff]

got 50% - guessed a lot of them though, knew about 5 of them

 

[pboily]

You Got 71% Right.

Very very nice. You've got the basic classics down cold, and a few of the less mainstream ones as well. You get a gold star for brightness!

Even better for a non-native English reader.

 

[Masquerouge]

Mmmh...

You Got 57% Right!


Nice. You might want to brush up on the classics, or you maybe didn't pay particular attention to first lines. Not a shabby score though! Nice going!

 

[JonnyB]

You Got 64% Right!

Nice. You might want to brush up on the classics, or you maybe didn't pay particular attention to first lines. Not a shabby score though! Nice going!

I did better than I expected to, but is there anywhere that shows the answers? (Other than my local library)

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I got 71%. You know we are living in an enlightened era when the Hitchhiker's Guide is classic.

And playing Civilization actually helped me in this quiz. I think the Shakespeare quote was in one of the wonder movies from CivII.

 

[Theige]

Who pays attention to first lines?

Last lines are always better !

 

[Atticus]

86%

Some first lines are very hard to remember, some are very easy to guess even if you hadn't read the book.

Spoiler :

Btw, Hundred Years of Solitude has the best first line in the history of literature.

 

[MCdread]

"You Got 64% Right!


Nice. You might want to brush up on the classics, or you maybe didn't pay particular attention to first lines. Not a shabby score though! Nice going!"

 

[Urederra]

86%

Some first lines are very hard to remember, some are very easy to guess even if you hadn't read the book.

Could you please put your last sentence under a spoiler?

BTW, congrats.

 

[nonconformist]

You Got 71% Right.

Very very nice. You've got the basic classics down cold, and a few of the less mainstream ones as well. You get a gold star for brightness!

Even better for a non-native English reader.

Same score, same comment regarding languages.

 

[MCdread]

Could you please put your last sentence under a spoiler?

BTW, congrats.

Spoiler :

But it is the wrong answer for the only question where it is an option.

 

[Theige]

You Got 50% Right!

What happened? Maybe you've just read books other than the ones on the list. Nearly all the books on the list are great books for reading, not just for first lines. Try a few that look interesting to you!


Basically guessed on all of them, though I've read a good amount of the books there.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

You Got 57% Right!

Nice. You might want to brush up on the classics, or you maybe didn't pay particular attention to first lines. Not a shabby score though! Nice going!


I guessed a fair number of them.

 

[Urederra]

Spoiler :

But it is the wrong answer for the only question where it is an option.

Spoiler not to see for thoose who didn't take the quiz yet :

Damn I got that wrong.

 

[Atticus]

Could you please put your last sentence under a spoiler?

Spoiler :

I just understood that somebody might think that this means the one in the quis would be the right one... Hundred Years starts:
"Years later when he stood in front of the execution squad general Aureliano Buendia remembered the distant night when his father took him to see ice". You just can't stop reading after that, can you?
(It's a little bit clumsy since it is my translation of the Finnish translation of the original one).

BTW, congrats.

I used to read a lot when I was younger, not so much any more when I found civ 2 years ago. But I guessed too, and one line I knew from reading another book, which weren't at the list..

 

[Chukchi Husky]

You Got 36% Right!

What happened? Maybe you've just read books other than the ones on the list. Nearly all the books on the list are great books for reading, not just for first lines. Try a few that look interesting to you!

I guessed them all. I don't read books.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

You Got 79% Right!

Very very nice. You've got the basic classics down cold, and a few of the less mainstream ones as well. You get a gold star for brightness!

Well I AM an English major, 'tis my duty to know such things.

 

[The Last Conformist]

You Got 50% Right!

What happened? Maybe you've just read books other than the ones on the list. Nearly all the books on the list are great books for reading, not just for first lines. Try a few that look interesting to you!

Well, the classics were never really my thing. Actually, given how few of these works I've read I think I can fake an understanding of literature remarkably well.

 

[Taliesin]

You Got 100% Right!

Impressive! There's barely a book on the list that you haven't read. You give me hope for the survival of civilization. Bravo! Give yourself a good pat on the back. You've earned it.

Three or four of them were lucky or informed guesses, but I knew most of them. (I've only read nine of the 18, though.)