Author Topic: Author! Author!  (Read 360816 times)

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10956
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1200 on: October 25, 2010, 10:45:37 PM »


Welcome to Author! Author!  

This is a game in which the contestants match their wits with a  challenger, who suggests a character in literature, non- fiction or fiction. The challenger may or may not provide more clues, his prerogative,, and never more than one a day.


Once a day the challenger will say if the guesses are correct or not. The winning contestant gets lots of acclaim and the chance to pose the next challenge. If he does not want to post a new challenge he can say so and whoever does can begin a new game.

Of course you could look these up on google in an instant, what challenge is that? The  idea is to rack one's brain to try to remember where this particular character appeared and who wrote about him/ her. Should be great fun.

The challenger also has the option not to mention the name of the character, but only a description.


Authors used so far:

Author, Book, Character, Challenger, Post#

Atwood, Margaret, The Blind Assassin, Gumtree, #277
Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennett, #158
Baum, L. Frank, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, JoanK, #342
Blackmore, Richard, Lorna Doone, Lorna Doone, Frybabe, #462
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, Gumtree, #252
Buchan, John, 39 steps, Richard Hannay, PatH, #396
Carroll, Louis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice, JoanK, # 426
Cervantes, Don Quijote, Don Quijote, PatH, #701
Christie, Agatha, Hastings, JoanK, # 127
Christie, Agatha, Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot, JoanK, #752
Clancy, Tom, Hunt for Red October, Frybabe, #553
Collins, Wilkie, The Moonstone, Rachel Verinder, PatH, #311
Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Gumtree, #226
Cronin, A. J., The Citadel, Andrew Manson, JudeS, #1085
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson, PatH, #380
Dumas, Alexandre pere, The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan, PatH, #939, 941
Eliot, George, Daniel Deronda, Gumtree, #190
Eliot, T. S., Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Bustopher Jones, PatH, #110
Essex, Karen, Leonardo's Swans, Isabella d'Este, Mippy, #591
Galsworthy, John, The Forsyte Saga, Irene, PatH, #615,620
George, Elizabeth, Lynley and Havers, Tomereader1, #168
Gilbert, W. S., The Savoy Operas, Frederick, or the Pirate King, #1108, 1111, 1112
Goodman, Carol, The Night Villa, the slave girl, Gumtree, # 1165
Greene, Graham, The Third Man, Holly Martins, PatH, ##1175, 1179
Grey, Zane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Frybabe, #294, 299
Henry, O. Mammon and the Archer, Anthony Rockwall, Ginny  #537
James, Henry, Washington Square, straudetwo, #981, 982
James, Henry, Wings of a Dove, Kidsal, #83
Keller, Helen, The Story of my Life, Anne Sullivan, JoanK #958
Lagerlof, Selma, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, Nils Holgersson, JudeS #899
LeFanu, Sheridan, Carmilla, roshanarose, #769
McCourt, Frank, Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt, JoanK, #1062
Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick, the whale, PatH, #482
Miller,Arthur, Death of a Salesman, Gumtree, #1005, 1006
Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Frybabe, #413
Mitford, Nancy, roshanarose, #839, 840
Nabokov, Vladimir, Lolita, Lolita, JudeS, #1124
O’Brian, Patrick, Master and Commander, Jack Aubrey, JudeS, #319
Orwell, George, Frybabe, #97
Peterson, Roger Tory, Field guide to the Eastern Birds, Mockingbird, JoanK #202
Plutarch, ----, Themistocles, roshanarose, #1025, 1027
Rand, Ayn, We the Living, Frybabe, #498, 502
Scott, Sir Walter, Ivanhoe, Ginny, #602
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein, the monster, PatH, #451
Smith, Alexander McCall, Mma Ramotswe, JudeS, #145
Spark, Muriel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Miss Brodie, Gumtree, #671, 672
Steinbeck , John, Journal of a Novel, Gumtree, #53, 60
Stoker, Bram, Dracula, Jonathan Harker, JudeS, #631, 632
Stone, Irving, Depths of Glory, Camille Pisarro, Gumtree, #802
Tolkien, J. R. R., Lord of the Rings, Frodo, PatH, #238, 241
Trollope, Joanna, The Best of Friends, Sophie, Mippy, #218
Tyler, Anne, Digging to America, Maryam Yazdan,Mippy, #735
Vreeland, Susan, The Forest Lover, Emily Carr, Mippy, #364
Weir, Alison, Innocent Traitor, Lady Jane Gray, roshanrose, #883
Wethers, Beck, Left for Dead, Ginny, #29
Windsor, Kathleen, Forever Amber, Amber, Traude, #927, 928
Wodehouse, P. G., Bertie Wooster, PatH, #1046, 1048
Woolfe, Virginia, Orlando, Orlando, PatH, #1141
Xenophon, Frybabe, #173








PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10956
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1201 on: October 25, 2010, 10:46:29 PM »
Up to a month?  :( :( :( :(

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1202 on: October 25, 2010, 10:47:23 PM »
Jude Brilliant get on Murdoch -

Traude - Great subject for the quiz. I should have guessed it in a trice but didn't give Murdoch a thought.  Your clues were perfect.

Roshanarose Welcome back! It's good to know you're on the mend. Take care. 
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10956
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1203 on: October 25, 2010, 10:49:21 PM »
Good work, Jude!

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1204 on: October 26, 2010, 03:01:28 AM »
Brilliant questions and brilliant answer!

Has anyone seen the Iris film?  I saw it with my husband when it came out, and he got quite upset because it reminded him so much of his parents - although funnily (and thankfully) enough, even after the intervening years, they have neither of them developed Altzheimer's, and they are still going on their merry way - both very academic, both very scatty, but both still enjoying life (although my m-in-law told me at least 10 years ago that she wouldn't buy a new TV as "we may not be here by next year"  :)

Hope it gets better soon Roshanrose, it sounds horrible, and things like eyes, ears, teeth, etc are so "insistent" aren't they? - you can't forget about them even for a minute, I suppose because you are using them all the time.

Rosemary

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1205 on: October 26, 2010, 01:34:46 PM »
Dear Fellow Guessers,
To all of you who are ill I wish you well. Here is a quiz to get your mind off your troubles.  i know you have all heard of the book and the author so I will make the hints slightlu more veiled. Good guessing!

Character:
Lives in a large Eoropean city.

Author:
European. Considered one of the most influential of his day.

Book:
Was published first in twelve parts in a monthly literary magazine.





straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1206 on: October 27, 2010, 01:15:57 PM »
Ahhhh ---  but is the author's day our day ?  
Could we have another tiny hint, please ?

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10034
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1207 on: October 27, 2010, 02:28:47 PM »
I suspect, Traude, that the author was of the Victorian era or there abouts. I don't think authors serialize their works in magazines anymore. A few modern authors have done so on the Internet, however (Stephen King comes to mind).

I can make a guess - Charles Dickens, but was he influential in his day?

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1208 on: October 27, 2010, 03:54:43 PM »
Frybabe-close but no cigar.

Hint #2
Character:
 Sickly, talks to himself,sometimes dressed in rags but also handsome, intelligent and proud.
Book:
A murder is planned.
Author:
The author was a gambling addict and often could't pay his bills.

I bet someone guesses this one.  Keep on trying.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1209 on: October 27, 2010, 08:10:47 PM »
Aha !!

Could we be looking for Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky ?

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10034
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1210 on: October 27, 2010, 09:51:20 PM »
I tried reading that a long time ago, but I didn't get too far. It was so depressing. Not the kind of reading one should be doing when one is already somewhat depressed. Never tried reading it again.

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1211 on: October 27, 2010, 09:58:48 PM »
Oh My! Traude - you're the tops.

Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1212 on: October 27, 2010, 11:20:27 PM »
Yes, yes Traude-You guessed correctly!  Hurrah!
Now all we need is the name of the character.  I bet someone remembers this  (to me anyway) memorable character.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1213 on: October 28, 2010, 09:34:07 AM »
Jude, thank you !!  
The character's name is Raskolnikov.  I read the book when I was 17 and it meant the world tome.

In haste, rushing to an appointment.

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1214 on: October 28, 2010, 03:18:17 PM »
Traude
I also read Crime and Punishment in my teens.  Later I read all the author's work. He was a super genius.

Now about the autho(1821-1881).  Because of his attending meetings of Nihilists (the left wing of the time) he and the others of this group were put before a firing squad.  There was a last minute reprieve and they served four years in jail and then another three in a work camp.  When Dostoevsky returned he was a changed man. He became addicted to alcohol and gambling.
He had had a rough childhood. Although his parents were wealthy they were extreme socialites and Fyodor and his brother were left in the care of servants most of the time.  The boys became very close.  A year before  writing  Crime and Punishmen his brother died, leaving Fyodor responsible financially for his own family and that of his brother.
The book was originally titled  "The Drunkards".  The author scrapped his first draft which was told from the pont of view of the protagonist and changed to third person omniscent.
The author was really the first ,before Freud, to relate and interpret dreams as symbolizing varying states of mind.

This book changed my way of looking at the world.

OK Traude- with great honor comes great responssssibility-so you're up!

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1215 on: October 28, 2010, 07:56:03 PM »
Jude, that was wonderful, invigorating quiz.  Thank you; thanks to all of you for being here.

Crime and Punishment left an indelible impression on me also.  It made me decide to take Russian - in another lifetime, it seems, long long ago.

I'll be back with the next quiz soon.




Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1216 on: October 29, 2010, 03:13:48 AM »
Off Topic:

Traude I just want to tell you that I finally ordered Paul Scott's  Staying On and Six Days at Marapore and that they arrived an hour or so ago. I'm not sure just when I'll get to read them - but they are not going to the bottom of my TBR pile. Not sure which one to read first.

I will always be grateful for our time together as we read the Raj Quartet. It was a true  and memorable literary feast - and now I'm about to help myself to a second serving from the same table.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1217 on: October 29, 2010, 01:39:30 PM »
Traude,
After reading Crime and Punishment I decided to read all the other Russian writers as well. So I worked my way through Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy,and for a while, even the poets. It never occurred to me that I could learn Russian or even take a course in Russian Lit.  However, eleven years ago we went on a three week tour of Russia.  But thats another story.
Congrats again. Nice to know I wasn't the only one who was influenced by Dostoyevsky

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10034
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1218 on: October 29, 2010, 01:57:05 PM »
Gumtree, enjoy the Scott books. I read Six Days in Marapore first. It is set just after independence, when most of the government and military positions held by Englishmen have been or are being replaced by their Indian counterparts. The great migration of English families back to England has begun. Staying On is set about 20-25 years later, as I recall, when there are very, very few of the English "Raj" still living in India. Both are very interesting.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1219 on: October 29, 2010, 06:37:38 PM »
May I take another few moments off topic, thank you.
 
Gumtree, Frybabe,
When we ended the discussion of Jewel in the Crown, many questions remained and were unanswerable.  And there was much more to the story.  I am glad we had the opportunity to discuss the other three volumes without having to adhere to a time table.   It was a unique experience.
It would have been fantastic to conclude this project, a labor of love,   with Staying On because  it revisits the very same area twenty-five years after it became the property of Pakistan, and one  military couple who s stayed on under very different circumstances.

Six Days in Marapore ism I believe,  an important followup read about life in the cantonment in the first few months after the precipitous exodus of the troops, the confusion and financial hardships of those who were stranded, unwilling to return home,  and uncertain where to turn next.
---------
Jude,  Russian literature and history fascinated me.  Peter the Great and his "window to the west", a country with 23.1 million serfs,  the ostentatiousness of the Czars,  the glory of Pushkin's poetry and Chekhov's plays.  Isn't it wonderful to discover we're both aficionadas, so to speak?
---------
Sorry not having come up with a new quiz. I tried hard last night but could not decide. I'm working on it.

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10034
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1220 on: October 29, 2010, 09:02:21 PM »
Oh nuts, was Staying On set in Pakistan? I forgot. Thanks for correcting me Traude.

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1221 on: October 30, 2010, 07:08:58 AM »
Frybabe - thanks for the advice on which Paul Scott to read first. As yet I'm not sure which way I'll jump.

Traude: Would love to read Staying On with you and the others - I know it didn't get the votes when you nominated it for the general discussions - but could it be proposed to be done in much the same way we did the Raj - maybe the same few readers would commit to it and SL might give us a board.

Jude - like you, it never occurred to me that I could have learned Russian even though I too, was overcome by the literature at an early age - You and Traude are certainly not alone in respect. However, I must say that I did not truly appreciate Turgenev until much later - I still browse Pushkin from time to time and would love to take the time to reread the great Russian novels again
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1222 on: October 30, 2010, 11:18:10 AM »
I would like to read Staying On if others would.  I have not yet read the Raj Quartet, but have watched The Jewel In The Crown once when it was originally broadcast here and again very recently on DVD.  Do you think I could read Staying On properly without reading the others first?  I had a read through your original discussions and found them very interesting indeed - there were quite a few things I hadn't really understood in the TV programmes, especially about the political situation.

Thanks

Rosemary

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10034
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1223 on: October 30, 2010, 03:13:03 PM »
Rosemarykaye, the answer to your question is yes. It stands by itself without having to read the Raj Quartet. It refers to several of the characters from the Raj, but not in a way that you would be lost without having read it.

JoanK

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 8685
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1224 on: October 30, 2010, 03:49:10 PM »
I, too, was greatly influenced by the Russian writers as a young adult, even considered learning Russian. The one that has stayed with me is Tolstoy -- I greatly enjoyed our discussion of "War and Peace" a few years ago. Maybe one day, we can do "Anna Karinina."

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1225 on: October 30, 2010, 04:12:52 PM »
Many thanks !
I couldn't be more elated about your responses on continuing to read Paul Scott and and the new interest.  What we need first is the approval and consent of both of the SL Administrator and the Book Host. I will keep you informed.

Rosemary,  yes,  as Frybabe  said,  Staying On is a stand-alone story.  The book was awarded the Booker Prize  in 1978, which finally brought Paul Scott the literary recognition he should have been accorded much sooner.  He was too ill to accept the prize in person and died not long after.  

Gumtree,  my subjects were languages and linguistics, and comparative literature. My plate was full ... :)







straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1226 on: October 30, 2010, 04:33:24 PM »
Here  is the new quiz.

The author was an outsider,  who did not  easily "fit in".

As a result,  opportunities and career choices were limited.

Writing short stories brought release, but it took time to  hone the talent.

Best known, if known,  for a longish novella
The character is a woman who is irrepressible in fighting dominance.

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10956
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1227 on: October 30, 2010, 10:43:10 PM »
I was one of the few who did vote for Staying On, and I would be willing to try it if you do it, Traude.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1228 on: October 30, 2010, 11:15:53 PM »
Yes, you did, PatH. I remember.  Thank you.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1229 on: October 31, 2010, 03:52:41 PM »
More clues

An eminent British novelist, poet and literary critics took the  young, self-destructive author under his wing.

The author's first collection of short stories appeared in 1927.

The author gained international acclaim in the 1960s with the publication of a remarkable book,
purporting to be a prequel of a British classic.


rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1230 on: October 31, 2010, 05:16:55 PM »
Is it Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea,  and Jane Eyre?

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1231 on: October 31, 2010, 07:54:25 PM »
Excellent, Rosemary,  I thought you'd know the answer !!
More tomorrow.

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1232 on: November 01, 2010, 09:51:34 AM »
Well done, Rosemary  Somehow I knew you would be good at this.  I am now out of quarantine and my eyes are almost better.  Looking forward to joining the "game" again soon.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1233 on: November 01, 2010, 01:45:45 PM »
Oh no - do I now have to think of something?   ???

JoanK

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 8685
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1234 on: November 01, 2010, 04:48:31 PM »
If you want to. If you'd rather not, someone else will volunteer.

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1235 on: November 01, 2010, 05:43:39 PM »
well i will have a think, and if the think goes on too long i will ask for a volunteer....thanks

Rosemary (one finger typing owing to cat curled up and leaning on other arm)

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1236 on: November 01, 2010, 09:11:31 PM »
For the sake of completion, here's a bit more about Jean Rhys - the name she eventually settled on.

She was born  in 1890 on the island of Dominica (not to be confused with the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti in the west and the Dominican Republic in the much larger eastern half).  
Her father was a Welsh doctor, her other a third-generation Creole with a Scotch ancestor in the past.  Rhys was educated at the Convent School and, at age 16, went to England, where foreignness, predictably,  made her stand apart in school. For all we know, ir may have been what we now call "bullying".
She did not go back home, as her parents wished, but had little success as a chorus girl.   In the early nineteen twenties she met Ford Madox Ford in Paris and he became her mentor. Her short stories (Voyage in the Dark,  Good Morning Midnight) feature rootless, ill-treated women who know only how to please men and, apparently nothing else.  

After a long silence during which people thought she was dead,  Rhys came out with Wild Sargasso Sea, called a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, about West Indian Antoinette Bertha Cosway, Edward Rochester's first wife.   A movie was made of it and broadcast late one night a few years ago. I was ready and waiting. But there were so many commercials every ten minutes or so that the story became totally incomprehensible.

Rosemary,  giving clues is not bad but finding a new quiz for our well-read group is something else.  We so enjoy the company and the stimulation.
T

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1237 on: November 02, 2010, 06:15:02 PM »
Well , here goes:

The character is learning Italian, but would rather not.

The author is a prolific writer, but also enjoys doing something else, rather badly.


I will try to check in each day (though I don't think this will take long...), but I have mother descending tomorrow for a week, so my time will be limited :)

Rosemary

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1238 on: November 02, 2010, 06:42:48 PM »
Impossible to resist this one.

The character is Bertie. He lives with his parents at 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh.  

The author is the inimitable  Alexander MacCall Smith,  who penned several other continuing mystery series, including one on line, and shows no sign of slowing down.  
His hobby is to play the bassoon - rather badly  ;D  

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1239 on: November 02, 2010, 06:58:33 PM »
Oh well done - I can see I'm going to have to try harder!

A McCall Smith is one of the founders of the Really Terrible Orchestra, and apparently they really are, but they all have a good time.

Bertie lives with his father Stuart and his frightful mother, Irene - what a creation she is.  I almost fell over with joy the day I passed the Floatarium, in Stockbridge - yes, it exists, and I could just imagine Irene in there, floating.  In fact one of the great pleasures of half-living in Edinburgh at the moment is coming across so many McCall Smith references.

Here is a sub-question - the character found his way home by the aroma of a certain foodstuff emanating from a well-known Edinburgh grocer's.  (one of my favourite bits of the entire series).

Rosemary