Friday, October 31, 2008

Top ten: books with secret signs

Justin Scroggie is the author of Tic-tac Teddy Bears and Teardrop Tattoos. For the Guardian, he named a top ten list of books with secret signs.

His introduction and one title from his list:
I'm an author (and television producer) with a passion for secret signs – all the ways that people in the know privately communicate with each other. I love books where something hinges on a sign or a symbol that the protagonist has to decipher. Authors are playful people, too, so I'm always on the lookout for any hidden messages they might have included, in a character's name, for example, or even on the cover.

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Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone

At the start of the first book in the series, dark wizard Lord Voldemort kills Lily and James Potter, and then turns his attention to their one-year-old child, Harry. But thanks to Lily's self-sacrifice, the attack fails, leaving Voldemort's body destroyed and Harry with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. The scar is both an indelible mark of Harry's past and a sign of how that past will catch up with him.
Read more about Scroggie's list.

--Marshal Zeringue