Ten books

[jain]

"2 ♀ SEEK FLATMATE." -- Stir-Fry by Emma Donoghue

In the early 1950s, history and politics conspired to create a circumstance in which it was impossible for me to ply my chosen trade--namely, writing. -- While England Sleeps by David Leavitt

[A Soldier's Declaration by S. Sassoon] Bryce waited for Rivers to finish reading before he spoke again. "The 'S' stands for 'Siegfried'. Apparently, he thought that was better left out." -- Regeneration by Pat Barker

The letter was in Earth script, unhandily scrawled in blobby blue ballpoint. -- Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

Who that cares much to know the history of man, and how the mysterious mixture behaves under the varying experiments of Time, has not dwelt, at least briefly, on the life of Saint Theresa, has not smiled with some gentleness at the thought of the little girl walking forth one morning hand in hand with her still smaller brother to go and seek martyrdom in the country of the Moors? -- Middlemarch by George Eliot

Friday morning! School holidays! Nine o'clock sharp! -- Peter by Kate Walker

Snow was falling on Riverside, great white feather-puffs that veiled the cracks in the facades of its ruined houses, slowly softening the harsh contours of jagged roof and fallen beam. -- Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

I grew up with my mother in Chez Stratos, my mother's house in the clouds. -- The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. -- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

In the past I wanted to be hung. It was worth while being hung to be a hero, seeing that life was not really worth living. -- The Lady's Not for Burning by Christopher Fry

That last is doubly a cheat: first, because it's a play; and, second, because I quote its own introductory quotation. All I can say in my defense is that my copy of Dale Peck's Martin and John is missing, and I've never owned Jim Grimsley's Comfort and Joy. I make do with what I have.