Richard Lederer, in
Literary Trivia, notes that alliteration (repeating the first letter in a sentence - like Big Bad Bob) is a great way to make something memorable. If you don't have alliteration in your title, the least you can do is have it in your author's name! Who is the author with the alliterative name?
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, Etc. Who Was Born In Newgate, and During a Life of Continu'd Variety For Threescore Years, Besides Her Childhood, Was Twelve Year a Whore, Five Times a Wife [Whereof Once To Her Own Brother], Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon In Virginia, At Last Grew Rich, Liv'd Honest, and Died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums. (Author's initials: D)
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Author's initials: F)
Leaves of Grass (Author's initial: W)
Here are the answers to last week's trivia questions:
(Also from
Richard Lederer's Literary Trivia)
Nothing beats a strong ending to a novel(ist). Can you identify the author by his or her final days?
This American humorist predicted that he would die the same year that Halley's Comet visited (1910). He did. The inscription on his gravestone in Elmira, New York has one of his most famous quotations: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
Mark Twain
This Russian novelist died in Astapovo in 1910, trying to escape from his wife. As he lay on his deathbed, he refuses to be converted to the Russian Orthodox Church. "Even in the Valley of the shadow of death," he told the priest, "two and two do not make six."
Leo Tolstoy
This American writer of poems and short stories spent his last days stumbling into Baltimore polling places and casting ballots for drinks. While preparing for his wedding, he was found wandering delirious near a saloon, and died four days later at the age of forty.
Edgar Allan Poe
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Richard Lederer, in Literary Trivia, notes that starting off a novel with a BANG can really draw in the readers. Can you identify the novel and its author by the opening sentence?
