The Second Sentence

A blog for the second sentences of books

[the-second-sentence]

“My muscles are clenched tight against the cold.”

-Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

[the-second-sentence]

Over the middle of the largest ocean, they ran into a terrible storm whose high winds battered and separated them.

The Commoner, John Burnham Schwartz

[the-second-sentence]

Last night I couldn't sleep.

The Sum of Our Days, Isabel Allende

[the-second-sentence]

Yet it began like one thousand and one days before: the wink of the sun and my cry of alarm, late again, the spring from my bed and the flight through the windowless rooms of my father's house, my wooden play-sword in my hand, my bare feet slapping the cool stone floor, I'm late I'm late I'm late.

The Jewel of Medina, Sherry Jones

[the-second-sentence]

That most famous Cassandra, the monk Savonarola of Florence, says that God is especially outraged by the blatant sexual crimes of Pope Alexander VI, who brought his sixteen-year-old mistress and his illegitimate children to live with him in the Vatican.

The Scarlet Contessa, Jeanne Kalogridis

[the-second-sentence]

All through the first watch pale crests surged out of the darkness, lifted in ghostly rumblings, them boomed against the forward quarter, staggering the ship.

Under Enemy Colors, S. Thomas Russell

[the-second-sentence]

The smells of camphor and death hung in the air

Liszt’s Kiss, Susanne Dunlap

[the-second-sentence]

She was hungry, and exhausted, and more tired than a body could stand, and each successive door was proving harder to open.

Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere

[the-second-sentence]

The canals, gleaming in the sun, dappled the ancient brickwork with gold.

The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke

[the-second-sentence]

It was April, but spring wasn't much in evidence yet save for the wildly blooming heather that poked through the patches of fog to dazzle the eye with a rainbow of vivid purples.

The Heiress Bride, Catherine Coulter

[the-second-sentence]

Do you really think you're going to die?

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates, Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein

[the-second-sentence]

The dry heat of the day cools after midnight, and those of us who sleep on the rooftops wake with the early sun on our faces and fresh air in our lungs.

Rooftops of Tehran, Mahbod Seraji

[the-second-sentence]

He pictures her with her back turned, one arm covering her head like a beaten child.

Zoia’s Gold, Philip Sington

[the-second-sentence]

Though everything was the color of fresh snow, the room's walls, ceiling, floor, and linens seemed tainted--as if the stains of misery and death had been scrubbed from them too many times.

Dragon House, John Shors

[the-second-sentence]

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Macbeth, William Shakespeare

[the-second-sentence]

The currency of the day was hopelessness, and monstrosities roamed the earth unbound by borders and unmatched in their cruelty...until...dawn rose upon the back of a lone rider who seemed to have galloped from the yellowed pages of some forgotten tale into the world.

I Kill Giants, Joe Kelly

[the-second-sentence]

She tells lies.

The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Fay Weldon