# Books written in second-person **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932 "2012-09-17T02:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/1 "2012-09-17T02:50:09Z")
There have gotta be some books written in second-person, but I’ve never encountered one. Have you? ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/2 "2012-09-17T02:53:12Z")
Choose Your Own Adventures and the like. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/3 "2012-09-17T02:53:13Z")
Jay MacInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/4 "2012-09-17T02:56:14Z")
[Writing in Second Person: Atwood to Tolstoy](http://www.chuffedbuffbooks.com/writing-in-second-person-atwood-to-tolstoy/) Books listed include: > [@](#): > > McInerney, Jay, Bright Lights, Big City, Penguin, (1984) p. 1. > > [ii] Banks, Ian, Complicity, Abacus, (1993), p. 3. > > [iii] Calvino, Italo, If on a Winter’s Night A Traveller, translation by William Weaver, Vintage, (1998), p. 3. > > [iv] Jenkins, A.M., Damage, HarperCollins eBooks, Kindle Edition, (2009). > > [v] Miller, A. D., Snowdrops, Atlantic Books, London, (2011), p. 2. > > [vi] Atwood, Margaret, ‘Happy Endings’ in Murder in the Dark: Short Fictions and Prose Poems, Virago Press, (1994), p. 63. > > [vii] Ibid., p. 69. > > [viii] Atwood, Margaret, ‘Bread’ in Murder in the Dark: Short Fictions and Prose Poems, Virago Press, (1994), p. 71. > > [ix] Ibid. > > Hawthorne, Nathaniel, ‘The Haunted Mind’ first published in The Token and Atlantic Souvenir (1835), and then in Twice-Told Tales, Vol. 2, (1937). This quote is taken from a Kindle edition (Twice Told Tales), Public Domain Books (2005). > > [xi] Faulkner, William, Absalom, Absalom!,(1936), Vintage Books, (2005), pp. 212-213. > > [xii] Tolstoy, Leo, ‘December in Sebastopol’ in The Sevastopol Sketches, (1855), translation by D. McDuff (1986), Penguin Books, London, p. 42. Googling for books written in second person lists many more of them. And there must be hundreds of shorter works. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/5 "2012-09-17T02:56:18Z")
Parts of Italo Calvino’s [If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_on_a_winter%27s_night_a_traveler). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/6 "2012-09-17T06:49:03Z")
Aren’t most cookbooks written in second person? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/7 "2012-09-17T12:52:47Z")
I remarked on [one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14369711&postcount=131) just about a year ago, _[Sorry](http://www.amazon.com/Sorry-Vintage-Crime-Black-Lizard/dp/0307475166/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347885950&sr=1-3&keywords=sorry)_ by the Croatian-German author Zoran Drvenkar. About a group of people who get the idea to start a business apologizing for things – people hire them to seek forgiveness for wrongs they have done. “You” are a murderer and you are their newest client. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/8 "2012-09-17T13:07:14Z")
_[Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Asleep_in_Frog_Pajamas)_ by Tom Robbins is written in the second person. I was a fan of his at the time, but that book taught me I’m not a fan of second person novels. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/9 "2012-09-17T13:11:19Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > Choose Your Own Adventures and the like. My first thought, as well 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/10 "2012-09-17T14:32:27Z")
[Aura, by Carlos Fuentes (contains spoilers)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(Fuentes)). I had to read it for high school. Short read, but very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/11 "2012-09-17T15:38:32Z")
Parts of Ian Bank’s _Complicity_ - and very effectively I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/12 "2012-09-17T18:30:42Z")
C.S. Lewis’ _Screwtape Letters_ ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/13 "2012-09-17T18:39:19Z")
[The Night Circus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Circus) has 2nd person portions, along with the more usual 3rd. I loved this book out of all reasonable bounds. I’m still not entirely sure why. But this is the fourth time it’s come up in two days. Maybe a reread is in order… ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/14 "2012-09-19T02:55:15Z")
_“Don’t Forgot!”_ by Elizabeth Darbee Wedge. Memoir of a family that adopted an Eastern European child with mental health issues. It was a hardcover that resided on my grandmother’s bookshelf for years and now resides on mine. It’ s a very odd style to read. (“You were so angry when you came to live with us . . .”) IIRC, there is first person as well where the mother refers to herself (“I told Dad that you . . .”). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/15 "2012-09-20T16:21:37Z")
The first one I ever ran into was [this one](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/You_will_go_to_the_moon.gif&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will_Go_to_the_Moon_(book)&h=162&w=118&sz=9&tbnid=mLLt9_UtsA4xZM&tbnh=0&tbnw=0&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dyou%2Bwill%2Bgo%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bmoon%2Bbook%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=you+will+go+to+the+moon+book&usg=__VqJhtxagymCg0LIKrvo7nevHMX8=&docid=9sMB5JqnNfNZcM&sa=X&ei=bkJbUI35GYXm0QGRt4CgCQ&ved=0CGoQ1Rc), given to me when I was 7 or thereabouts. ETA: Oh yeah, and future tense as well 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/16 "2012-09-20T16:29:18Z")
Charles Stross’ “Halting State” and its sequel “Rule 34” Also Bob Leman’s creepy short story “Instructions” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/17 "2012-09-20T18:17:55Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > The first one I ever ran into was [this one](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/You_will_go_to_the_moon.gif&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will_Go_to_the_Moon_(book)&h=162&w=118&sz=9&tbnid=mLLt9_UtsA4xZM&tbnh=0&tbnw=0&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dyou%2Bwill%2Bgo%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bmoon%2Bbook%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=you+will+go+to+the+moon+book&usg=__VqJhtxagymCg0LIKrvo7nevHMX8=&docid=9sMB5JqnNfNZcM&sa=X&ei=bkJbUI35GYXm0QGRt4CgCQ&ved=0CGoQ1Rc), given to me when I was 7 or thereabouts. > > ETA: Oh yeah, and future tense as well 🙂 Oh, that reminds me of [this one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh,_the_Places_You%27ll_Go!)! The perennial graduation gift, also second person and future tense. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/18 "2012-09-20T18:27:52Z")
_A Pagan Place_, Edna O’Brien, is written wholly in second person: You did this, you said that, you went the other place. It’s plainly meant to be the idiomatic “everybody” you, although not even in Ireland could \*every \*young woman have had to deal with young priests’ repressed sexuality and premature ejaculation and it was based on her own youth. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/19 "2012-09-21T05:07:15Z")
It’s somewhat off-topic, but I loathe erotica written in second person. Usually, it’s something some misguided person wrote to a (presumably creeped-out) potential sex partner, and trying to re-purpose it for a wider audience. Erotica authors, stick to first person or third. Never second. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-in-second-person/634932/20 "2012-09-21T05:33:10Z")
Also from Seuss, [Happy Birthday to You!](http://www.seussville.com/books/book_detail.php?isbn=9780394800769).