140 Years of Independence Day (excerpts from children's literature)

Feel free to add your own quotations in the comments.

( Theodore Roosevelt, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Norma Johnston, Sydney Taylor, Sylvia McNeely, Carolyn Haywood, Hazel Wilson, Keith Robertson, and Madeleine L'Engle )

What I'm reading, with a plea for suggestions

Authors I'm currently reading or plan to read during the next few months (excluding research literature):

Gay literature: Marquesate and david stein.

Heterosexual romance: Mary Stewart.

Historical fantasy: Diana Gabaldon (the next Outlander novel is due out on September 22).

Historical fiction: Catherine Christian, Cynthia Harnett, Norma Johnston, Naomi Mitchison, Sharon Kay Penman, Rosemary Sutcliff, Geoffrey Trease, and Barbara Willard.

I'm fairly top-heavy with dead authors, as you can see. What I'm desperately searching for is authors that my Muse likes, namely:

1) A fair amount of description.

2) Good stylistically.

3) Has all the usual elements I like in a story: dramatic tension, interesting and sympathetic characters (I include "angst-ridden villains" as sympathetic), and preferably an interesting theme.

It's category 1 that's killing me. I have loads of books on my shelf that fall into categories 3, and a select number that fall into category 2, but I have the darnedest time finding authors who insert descriptive passages into their stories, other than something along the lines of "He looked over his shoulder, frowning."

What I'm looking for is descriptive passages like this:

( Examples )

Can any of you help with suggestions?