IAN PATTERSON / ALAN HOLLINGHURST
You might recognise: 'It was a bright day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.' But what about: 'Time, like an ever-rolling stream' Or even: 'I am soft sift / In an hour-glass-at the wall / Fast, but mined with a motion, a drift, / And it crowds and it combs to the fall.' Can you match each to their author? What about their book or poem? Welcome to Nemo's Almanac, the ultimate quiz for bibliophiles. Wonderful, maddening, enlightening, Nemo's Almanac has been the well-guarded secret of the literary world for over one hundred years, beloved by authors and booksellers alike. Now in book form for the first time, with an account of its quirky history from Alan Hollinghurst, you can experience its fiendishly addictive qualities for yourself. With tantalising quotes on themes from breakfast to bonfires, winter to sunshine, and including authors from Aldous Huxley to Zadie Smith, each chapter will put your knowledge and literary instinct to the test as you search for the origins to each quote. And if that tip-of-your-tongue feeling doesn't transform into the names of authors and works, you can always check the back of the book for answers that will send you on fresh journeys of literary discovery. So curl up by a fire with your wits about you, stuff the book in your pocket for a trip to the library, or quiz the whole family after dinner. Answers: George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four; Isaac Watts, 'O God, Our Help'; Gerard Manley Hopkins, 'The Wreck of the Deutschland
