How well do you know your fictional bookshops? – quiz

1. 

   What is Arthur Geiger’s bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard a front for in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep?

   1. Pornography

   2. Drugs

   3. Human trafficking

   4. Alcohol

2. “Before him lay a long, narrow room, the back of which was lost in the half-light. The walls were lined with shelves filled with books of all shapes and sizes. Large folios were piled high on the floor, and on several tables lay heaps of smaller, leather-bound books, whose spines glittered with gold.” What is the name of the owner of the bookshop in Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story?

   1. Bastian Balthazar Bux

   2. Carl Conrad Coreander

   3. Dirk Dastardly Diggly

   4. Edmund Earl Erasmus

3. What is the name of the bookshop in Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s ode to reading, The Shadow of the Wind?

   1. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books

   2. City Lights

   3. Carax Books

   4. Sempere and Sons

4. “The shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.” Where is this fictional bookshop located?

   1. The Strand, New York

   2. Charing Cross Road

   3. Barcelona

   4. Diagon Alley

5. 

   What was the name of the antiquarian bookseller who ran a shop at 84 Charing Cross Road, with whom American writer Helene Hanff conducted a lengthy correspondence?

   1. Anthony Hopkins

   2. Billy Marks

   3. Frank Doel

   4. Fred Dawkins

6. “This guy is, what, thirty-six and he’s only now reading Franny and Zooey? And let’s get real. He’s not reading it. It’s just a front for the Dan Browns in the bottom of his basket. Work in a bookstore and learn that most people in the world feel guilty about being who they are.” Which novel about a psychotic bookseller does this come from?

   1. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

   2. We Were Liars by E Lockhart

   3. You by Caroline Kepnes

   4. A Simple Favour by Darcey Bell

7. 

   “There were jackdaws nesting in it, half the tiles were off, it stank of rats. Wouldn’t it be better as a place where people could stand and look at books?” Where does Penelope Fitzgerald set her Booker-shortlisted novel about a widow who decides to open a bookshop, The Bookshop?

   1. Hardborough

   2. Aldeburgh

   3. Westleton

   4. Dunwich

8. “The mild, spicy smell of old books hit him, and the smell was somehow like coming home.” What is the name of the bookshop in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series?

   1. Childe Roland to the Bookshop Came

   2. Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!

   3. The Bookseller’s Guide to the Galaxy

   4. The Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind

9. “It is a repository of books, a place of safety for all the volumes, once so lovingly written, that at present no one seems to want.” In Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, Margaret Lea, whose father runs Lea’s Antiquarian Booksellers, is invited to write the biography of a famous writer. What is the writer’s name?

   1. Vida Winter

   2. Venetia Withers

   3. Vera Williams

   4. VS Naipaul

10. What is special about the bookshop in Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop?

    1. It only sells one book

    2. It is the entrance to a magical world

    3. It’s on a boat

    4. It is very, very little

Solutions

1:A - The picture above, a still from the 1946 film, shows the scene where Philip Marlowe goes to the rare bookshop across the road from Geiger's shop, to stake out the property. It is a much nicer bookshop., 2:B, 3:D, 4:D - It is Harry Potter's local bookshop, Flourish and Blotts. (And we're never told if it is an indie shop or a wizarding-world chain.), 5:C, 6:C, 7:A, 8:D, 9:A, 10:C

Scores

1. 10 and above.

   Well done - and well read!

2. 9 and above.

   Well done - and well read!

3. 8 and above.

   Well done - and well read!

4. 7 and above.

   Not bad. Have another go after having hitting the books!

5. 6 and above.

   Not bad. Have another go after having hitting the books!

6. 5 and above.

   Not bad. Have another go after having hitting the books!

7. 4 and above.

   Oh dear. Maybe a trip to your local bookshop to get a copy of one of these novels wouldn't go amiss ...

8. 1 and above.

   Oh dear. Maybe a trip to your local bookshop to get a copy of one of these novels wouldn't go amiss ...

9. 3 and above.

   Oh dear. Maybe a trip to your local bookshop to get a copy of one of these novels wouldn't go amiss ...

10. 2 and above.

    Oh dear. Maybe a trip to your local bookshop to get a copy of one of these novels wouldn't go amiss ...

11. 0 and above.

    Oh dear. Maybe a trip to your local bookshop to get a copy of one of these novels wouldn't go amiss ...