Top Ten Quotes and Literary Couples

*I missed last week's meme but liked it so much I decided to write my diary on it in addition to this week's meme. 

The Broke and the Bookish

What are your top ten favorite quotes from books?

1. "That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive- all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment."---The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrons, pgs 11-12.

2. "When I visit the back corners of my life again after so long a time, littlest things jump out first." "Even when it stands vacant the past is never empty."---Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, from first line, page 1, and conclusion, page 344.

3. "I'm skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blades, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story." ---The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, pg. 246.

4. "Remembering is a word I use for praying. Sometimes it's like waiting for music to come out of silence." ---Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, pg. 147.

5. "...even after fifty years it retains its aura of brimstone and taboo...what people remember isn't the book itself, so much as the furor. Ministers in church denounced it as obscene...the library was forced to remove it from the shelves...There's nothing like a shovelful of dirt to encourage literacy." ---The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, p. 39.

6. "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." ---Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.

7. "...until Ammu shook her and told her to stoppit and she stoppited. Around them the hustling-jostling crowd. Scurrying hurrying buying selling luggage trundling porter paying children shitting people spitting coming going begging." ---The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

8. "Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering."---The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, pg. 11.

9. "His question caught her off-guard, and she didn't know what to do with it. The part of her that was open to the universe was facing in another direction just then."---Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, p. 327.

10. "Shall we go to Bethlehem, boys, or shall we dance?"---The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry.

11. "I try to fend off the oceanic sadness, but I can't. It's such a colossal effort not to be haunted by what is lost, but to be enchanted by what was."---The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, p.275.

12. "We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to totally suck."---Feed by M.T. Anderson, p. 1.

What are your top ten favorite literary couples?

(In no particular order.)

1.  Leo and Stargirl …Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli... They had the kind of relationship I always wanted in high school.
2. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy…Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...Every girl wants a Mr. Darcy, right?
3. Lennie and Joe …The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson...Such a tender and young love.
4. Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth…Persuasion by Jane Austen...I can totally relate to Anne Elliott and think of a line from Captain Wentworth's Diary here" Anne, always Anne."
5. Katsa and Po…Graceling by Kristin Cashore...Love that has grown out of mutual admiration and common purpose.
6. Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars…Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen...It was a toss up between this couple or Marianne and Col. Brandon.  I love both couples.
7. Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley/Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger...Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling...'nuff said.  I'm a fan.
8. Kathy and Mike Flannigan…Mrs. Mike: The Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan by Benedict Freedman...This a true life love affair.  So tender and nourishing.
9. Laila and Tariq…A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini...A tragic love story with a bit of a happy ending.
10. Katniss and Peeta...Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins...I wasn't going to put this one on because I was conflicted about the whole Gale/Peeta thing but I had a conversation with another teacher after school and she talked me through the whole true-love thing with Peeta.  I'm there now.  Ready to accept them as a favorite couple.
11. Todd and Viola…The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking series) by Patrick Ness...Don't know if they are a couple or just best friends.  But I love their devotion to each other.
12. Henry and Clare...Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger...A late addition after seeing other lists.  They had a love which transcended time.
13. Beatrice and Benedict...Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare...Another late addition. Their banter makes for all kinds of sexual tension.