Sulari Gentill > Quotes

“Hero,” he said softly, in a manner that was much like his father’s. “Vengeance and glory are the ways of the Greeks and the Trojans. We are of the Herdsmen.”
― Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus

“The sadness of death lies in the fact that it cannot be reversed. Cherish the world of the living whilst you have it, for you cannot visit there again.”
― Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus

“Still, there might be something fitting about a friendship based on a common love of words being founded on an exchange of the same.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“I am a bricklayer without drawings, laying words in sentences, sentences into paragraphs, allowing my walls to twist and turn on whim...no framework...just bricks interlocked...no idea what I'm building or if it will stand...no symmetry, no plan, just the chaotic unplotted bustle of human life.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“It is not easy to soothe the immortal gods from their vengeance.”
― Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus

“What could you possibly write at Gates of Hades?” Cadmus asked.

“Keep your spirits up.” Lycon sheathed the dagger he’d used to chisel the trunk.

Cadmus shook his head. “Idiot.”
― Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus

“You know, Mac,”Cadmus said still looking out the window. “We may have to work on the way we tell our story …apparently it’s not amusing enough.”

“I’ll try to include a joke between ‘he bled to death’and ‘the city burned’.”Machaon responded tersely.”
― Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus

“He has been known to devour men.”

“He’s a cannibal?” Cadmus asked in horror.

“Well, not really,” Daemon replied. “He is a Cyclops. He does not eat his own kind — just men and only those who challenge him … he does not hunt them.”
― Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus

“I ask him about his novel. I fancy that Leo writes historical fiction, and for some reason I'm convinced his era is the Roman Empire. I have no reason to suppose this...it's just a fancy.
"Romance," he says. "I write romance."
My surprise clearly needs no words because he continues to explain.
"My agent will tell you it's a story about passionate friendships and reluctant relationships in modern America, but really it's a romance."
"Oh...set today?" I'm still thinking gladiators.
"Modern America, remember."
"Have you...have you always written romance?"
"Yes, and what's more, so have you. The mystery writers, the historical novelists, the political thriller writers, the science fiction writers...everybody but the people who write instruction manuals is writing romance. We dress our stories up with murders, and discussions about morality and society, but really we just care about relationships."
"You can't be serious. You're saying Stephen King writes romances?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Leo sits back in the sofa. "The killer clown is entertaining and all that, but what we're really interested in is whether the fat kid gets the pretty girl.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“Whit’s biggest problem is how to actually avoid graduating from Harvard Law, and Marigold thinks expensive tattoos make her street.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“Just Gatsby,” he says. “It reminds me that flawed people can create perfect works of literature.” “And why do you need to be reminded of that?”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“The story of her life etched on her skin… She’s like a walking book. Patterns and portraits and words. Mantras of love and power. I wonder how much of it is fiction.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“Leo shakes his head. “You Aussies have a dark side.” “Nonsense. We’re friendly alcoholics who like to barbeque and swear.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“Hero,” said Machaon to his sister who was still muttering to her gods. “Please stop. Surely the gods would have heard you by now … let’s try not to annoy them.”
― Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus

“I’ve been starving for at least three hours, afraid to ask the muse for time off to buy food. She’s fickle and easily offended, likely to sulk if I don’t give her my complete attention when she’s gracing me with her presence. Perhaps that’s why writers starve in garrets—because the literary muse is a sadistic fascist.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“Maybe I should stop looking at the ceiling and write something.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“And Wheelbarrow tried to—”
“Wheelbarrow?” Duplantier asks.
“Just a nickname, mate; his real name was Jake, I think.”
“Why do you call him Wheelbarrow?”
“He needed to be pushed to work.”

“Brake Pad was so called because he wore out easily and then started to squeal, and London Fog— he wasn’t really English, just never lifted.”

“And what did they call you?” Abigay inquires archly. Joe laughs. “Blister.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d appear when the hard work was done.”
― Sulari Gentill, Five Found Dead

“the excited crush of friendship’s beginning, untarnished by the annoyances, disappointments, and minor betrayals which come with the passing of time.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“So now I’m alone with a murderer. But then, it’s not the first time.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“I'm touched by the way she asks. Like reading the work of a writer is a privilege and not the purpose for which we write.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“I am vaguely aware that Cain has not returned my call, but maybe it's absurd to expect a call to thank me for calling to thank him. Where would it end?”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“the towel, rolls onto his side, and drags himself up into a sitting position against the wall. He catches his breath, and then, “I had no idea till just now, you fucking moron. I thought you were too dumb to do anything more complicated than eat donuts!”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“bakery in Back Bay. Divine! Honest, their products make you believe in God and willing to forsake him at the same time.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“As for your enquiries about how my own book is coming: Well, I spent Friday at the library. I wrote a thousand words and deleted fifteen hundred. Regardless, the Boston Public Library is a nice spot in which to be stood up by the muse.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“do worry you might offend your U.S. readership by slandering our chocolate. We do know that our chocolate is inferior, but there’s a kind of national agreement to pretend otherwise. Without it we might have had to invade you.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“I’m not saying he’s not an idiot,” Rowland said slowly. “Obviously he is…”
― Sulari Gentill, A Few Right Thinking Men

“Oh, Theo, Gus will work his way through this. Philip Hayes is an asshole. And your brother is an exceptional attorney. He’ll be all right.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Mystery Writer: WINNER OF THE MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

“Of course, it means our authors must be very disciplined. In this day of social media, we do not want any hint of your novel, its plot, its style, or substance getting out before it is time.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Mystery Writer: WINNER OF THE MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

“walking carefully, the tedium of layering on and off each time you go in or out a building. It takes hours out of everyone’s day. And while fresh snowfall can be pretty, the slushy muddy mush left after a day or two is anything but! I really miss the color green—it’s something you don’t experience in Australia, I suppose. The complete absence of green.”
― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

“What do you mean you left uni?” he asked. “You’ve only got another couple of years to graduation. Surely it can’t be that bad?”
― Sulari Gentill, The Mystery Writer: WINNER OF THE MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD