“Duncan Makenzie was ten years old when he found the magic number.”
Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
“Nativism has been hard for historians to define.”
Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925, by John Higham.
Duke Maximilian of Bavaria kneeled by the side of the bier upon which his late wife’s body lay in state.
1634: The Bavarian Crisis, by Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce
“The story of the current St. Albans Cathedral starts with Alban (third century) who was a citizen of the Roman city Verulamium, which we now know as St. Albans.”
Amazing and Extraordinary Facts: Cathedrals and Abbeys, by Stephen Halliday
Fall 1633
The rain pelted down solidly, stirring up the puddles in the road’s many ruts.
“Horse Thieves”, by Karen Bergstralh
First story in Ring of Fire II, edited by Eric Flint
“His dreams grew confused and ominous. Suddenly his muscles contracted in fear and he awoke, sweat cold on his body.”
Thieves Fall Out, by Gore Vidal
“It was getting hotter. Frank May got off his mat and padded over to look out the window.”
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
“I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem. As with so many scientific breakthroughs, the answer was obvious in retrospect.”
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
“The publication party was held in the dean’s office, which was supposed to be an honor.”
Tomorrow’s Kin, by Nancy Kress
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
Voyage of the Dawntreader, CS Lewis
…
(yes, I remembered the line, and started re-reading the book just so I could post it)
“A regular feature of any hospital emergency department is the patient who turns up with an embarrassing and entirely self-inflicted complaint.”
The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine, by Thomas Morris.
“I was supposed to die.”
Almost Interesting - David Spade
“Clara stood outside a stranger’s tent, holding a naked sword in her hands.”
Paladin’s Strength, Ursula Vernon (writing as T. Kingfisher)
“When Liam Sullivan died, at the age of ninety-two, in his sleep, in his own bed with his wife of sixty-five years beside him, the world mourned.”
Hideaway, by Nora Roberts
I’m digging into it …
“Call me Ishmael.”
Title and author, Jack? 
“In the springtime, when the Round Table was in its glory, King Arthur always held a high feast.”
The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges, illus. by Trina Schart Hyman
“That’s torn it!” said Lord Peter Wimsey.
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers
"Towards the end of things, someone asked Michael Kearney, “How do you see yourself spending the first minute of the new millennium?”
Light, by M. John Harrison
Naples
Don Vincente Jose-Maria Castro y Papas, Captain in His Most Catholic Majesty’s Army in the Two Sicilies, tried sneering at the stack of paperwork and the books and ledgers of the company he commanded. It was of no use. The wretched things remained there, sneering back at him.
1635: The Cannon Law, by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis
I recognize his as from Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville.
Actually, it’s from It’s Not a Rug, It’s a Piece of Art, by Ishmael Liebowitz, Manhattan’s preeminent toupee merchant in the 1930’s