“It was better to tell such stories close to the river than in a drawing room. Words accumulate indoors, trapped by walls and ceilings. The weight of what has been said can lie heavily on what might yet be said and suffocate it. By the river the air carries the story on a journey: one sentence drifts away and makes way for the next.”
― Once Upon a River
― Once Upon a River
“Well, then,” the cressman concluded sagely, “just ’cause a thing’s impossible don’t mean it can’t happen.”
― Once Upon a River
― Once Upon a River
“A curtain was drawn back in every man's inner theater and their storytelling minds got to work.”
― Once Upon a River
― Once Upon a River
“They were collectors of words the same way so many of the gravel diggers were collectors of fossils. They kept an ear constantly alert for them, the rare, the unusual, the unique.”
― Once Upon a River
― Once Upon a River
“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner.”
― Once Upon a River
― Once Upon a River
Magill’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Magill’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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