Novel Novels Word Quiz

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. And joining us once again is our quiz guide, John Chaneski.

John, how tal?

Hey, Martha. Hi, Grant. How are you guys doing?

How are you, kid? What’s up?

Doing well.

I got a quiz for you guys, by the way.

All right. Let’s hear it.

Yeah. This quiz involves wordplay and novels. I call it Novel Novels. All right?

Okay.

I’ve taken the titles of several famous novels and changed but one letter, forming a new title.

I’ll give a brief description of the new plot line of the new novel thus created.

For example, if I said, migrant workers angrily attempt to get their professor to change a D- to a C, what novel might that describe?

Grades of Wrath?

Grades of Wrath. Very good.

If you need, I will give you the author, the original author of the book.

But I think you guys will do pretty well.

Okay, let’s hear it.

Here are some more.

This curious novel is a sort of Billy Elliot for the royal crowd. It tells how a British peer strove to become a ballet master.

A British peer.

So, Lord something?

Yes.

Lord of the Wings? No.

I don’t know either.

Well, think of a novel that stars Lord of the…

Lord of the Flies.

And change one letter to have to do something having to do with ballet.

Lord of the Flies.

Lord of the Plies?

Very good.

Oh, my gosh.

That was good.

Actually, that was sort of a hard room, but you did great.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Thank goodness for those ballet lessons in second grade.

That’s terrific.

This unusual novel about a chef deals primarily with baked goods and his generous use of yeast.

Raisins in the buns?

Oh, no, but you’ve got the two words I’m looking for, though.

Oh, we do?

Yeah, you’ve got the type of baked good, and you’ve got the action that yeast inspires.

Oh, right.

Oh, so it’s…

Rising bun.

So is it the Hemingway novel, then?

It is.

Oh, the bun also rises.

The bun also rises.

Very good.

I was going to say House of the Rising Bun, but that’s a song, right?

Nice teamwork.

Yes, the animals, House of the Rising Bun.

All right, here’s the next one.

This offbeat novel is based on an incident concerning a nudist club and an official at a nearby university.

I was going to say Naked Bunch, but maybe something Dean?

Yes.

Dean and…

I think you’ve got the two words you need.

Can we have the clue again?

Sure.

This novel based on an incident concerning a nudist club and an official.

Is this a Norman Mailer novel?

It is a Norman Mailer novel.

The Naked and the Dean?

The Naked and the Dean.

It’s very good.

Now, this strange beat generation novel is about warts, and more specifically, where you might find them.

On the Toad.

On the Toad.

Very good, Grant.

Oh, very good.

On the Toad by Jack Kerouac, yes.

Or Jack Jerowack.

You can change whatever you like here.

This peculiar novel tells how a baseball player touring a Russian seafood plant accidentally falls into a vat of caviar.

Okay, so Roe, a baseball player touring a Russian seafood plant.

Something in the row? Catcher in the row?

The catcher in the row.

This interesting novel is sort of the opposite of the TV show The Biggest Loser. It’s about a domicile in which the occupants are encouraged to get fatter and fatter.

Little house.

A big house on the prairie.

A little house on the prairie.

They’re seeking to increase their circumference.

Is there something with bleak?

The author of the original was Edith Wharton, if that helps.

Oh.

The House of Girth.

House of Girth.

Here’s the next.

This abnormal novel concerns an Irishman and his strange obsession with a gardening tool.

Wait a minute.

Wait, an Irishman?

So gardening tool, hoe is funny.

Hoe is automatically funny, so maybe it involves a hoe.

Yeah, no, it’s not a hoe, though.

Oh, well, rake.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Can.

No.

No, no.

Rake is correct.

Rake is correct?

That’s right.

Okay, and it’s a weird Irish novel.

We just want to know an Irishman obsessed with a gardening tool.

We just need an Irish name to go before Rake.

Oh, right, right, right.

Finnegan’s Rake.

Finnegan’s Rake.

Very good.

Nice, Grant.

Now, here’s the last.

This atypical novel is about a clever con man who bilks unsuspecting people via the telephone?

Bilks.

Cheat?

No, you’re really looking for something having to do with clever and telephone.

Clever and telephone.

So call?

Yeah.

Call?

Call of the something?

Yeah.

Of the Wiley?

The call of the Wiley.

Call of the Wiley.

Nice, nice work.

These are great, John.

Cool, cool.

So those are my novel novels.

I hope you guys like them.

You were great.

You did really, really well.

I thought they were hilarious.

Now you’ve got to get scribbling on the treatments.

On the treatments, yes.

Send them out, yeah.

Yeah.

Maybe we can all do them together.

Good fun.

Thanks, Grant.

Thanks, Martha.

See you later.

All right.

And if you want to talk about words and how we use them, grammar, slang, any of that, call us, 1-877-929-9673.

Or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.