apocryphal adj. 1.Of questionable authorship or authenticity. 2. Erroneous; fictitious. 3. Apocryphal Bible Of the Apocrypha.--apocryphally adv.
--The American Heritage dic-tion-ar-y, Fourth Edition
No reader's journal could possibly be complete without an overwhelming abundance of quotes from Alexander McCall Smith, author of the wildly popular The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.
It would be utter lunacy to include every one of my favorite McCall Smith quotes here in The Eclectic Reader, not to mention that the sheer volume of the writing would constitute an egregious violation of copyright law, as virtually every line of every McCall Smith novel is eminently quotable. I shall therefore do my best to limit myself to a few quotes that happen to include GRE-level vocabulary, starting with this one:
'Accounts of attacks by black mambas are often exaggerated, and stories of the snakes' attacking men on galloping horses, and overtaking them, are almost certainly apocryphal. The mamba can manage a consderable speed over a very short distance, but could not compete with a horse.'
--Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
