As the Book Quiz sees us
Feb. 17th, 2009 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustBBC4 is currently running a book quiz on Monday evenings. Two pairs of literary types answer questions in a variety of formats about fairly mainstream books. It isn't wonderful, but it isn't terrible, and for half an hour on Monday evening I'll settle for that.
One round is constructed as follows. THe teams each in turn select one of four categories - genres, periods, themes and so on - on which they will be given four summaries and asked to identify the work in question. And last night Philippa Gregory and Paul Morley elected to answer on "Classic Sci-Fi".
All four works were published during the 1950s. Paul Morley, who had been enthusiastic for this choice of topic, had clearly not anticipated this interpretation of "classic", but![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler and I had no complaints. In fact we both identified the first book from the first three words of the summary - but then those three words were "Mathematician Hari Selden..." (Morley thought it might be Heinlein; Darren Shan, on the opposing team, identified Foundation).
Question two was similarly helpful: "His father used the Bible as a coded guide to the stock marjket, and Malachi Constant became the richest man in America..." and also referred to "the eponymous moon of Saturn" Once again, Darren Shan to the rescue, confident that it was Vonnegut, less confident that it was The Sirens of Titan.
The third question foxed us all - a city in a protective dome, a billion years in Earth's future. Even Darren Shan didn't know (Paul Morley guessed it might be Dune, which Philippa Gregory admitted was the only SF she knew). It's Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars.
Finally, "In a world where voting rights go only to those who have completed federal service...". By now Paul Morley had lost heart, and didn't even bother to guess at Heinlein; Darren Shan hadn't read the book, but had seen the movie of Starship Troopers.
Still and all, SF now officially exists. Though obviously it doesn't include such literary novels as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, subject of a question earlier in the programme.
Which is currently available to watch here if this information hasn't been enough to put you off.
One round is constructed as follows. THe teams each in turn select one of four categories - genres, periods, themes and so on - on which they will be given four summaries and asked to identify the work in question. And last night Philippa Gregory and Paul Morley elected to answer on "Classic Sci-Fi".
All four works were published during the 1950s. Paul Morley, who had been enthusiastic for this choice of topic, had clearly not anticipated this interpretation of "classic", but
durham_rambler and I had no complaints. In fact we both identified the first book from the first three words of the summary - but then those three words were "Mathematician Hari Selden..." (Morley thought it might be Heinlein; Darren Shan, on the opposing team, identified Foundation).Question two was similarly helpful: "His father used the Bible as a coded guide to the stock marjket, and Malachi Constant became the richest man in America..." and also referred to "the eponymous moon of Saturn" Once again, Darren Shan to the rescue, confident that it was Vonnegut, less confident that it was The Sirens of Titan.
The third question foxed us all - a city in a protective dome, a billion years in Earth's future. Even Darren Shan didn't know (Paul Morley guessed it might be Dune, which Philippa Gregory admitted was the only SF she knew). It's Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars.
Finally, "In a world where voting rights go only to those who have completed federal service...". By now Paul Morley had lost heart, and didn't even bother to guess at Heinlein; Darren Shan hadn't read the book, but had seen the movie of Starship Troopers.
Still and all, SF now officially exists. Though obviously it doesn't include such literary novels as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, subject of a question earlier in the programme.
Which is currently available to watch here if this information hasn't been enough to put you off.
