Funny Bones, Making Bones, Dem Bones

The National Book Award winners were announced on Wednesday and Jesmyn Ward won an award for her novel “Salvage the Bones” about a pregnant teen living on Mississippi’s gulf coast around the time of Hurricane Katrina. I immediately added the title to my TBR list. (Salvage The Bones: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward)

The reason for adding the book to my list wasn’t only because it had won this prestigious award or for my fascination with Hurricane Katrina. For years, books with the word ‘bones’ in the title have been like flashing neon signs for me. I’ve read most of Kathy Reichs’ Bones novels; after watching Seeley Booth race down an embankment to rescue ‘Bones’ from a car buried in gravel, how could I resist?

Before Temperance Brennan, though, I had already read several other books with the skeletal reference included within the title. Recently, I purchased an e-book without realizing a subliminal attraction was the specific word in its title: The Bones of the Kuhina Nui by Michael A Herr.

Unable to select an absolute favorite from the ‘Bones’ books I have read, I am listing my top choices - in no particular order.

Bone Cold by Erica Spindler
The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver
The Bone Garden: A Novel by Tess Gerritsen
Winter’s Bone: A Novel by Daniel Woodrell
City of Bones by Michael Connelly
Bones by Max Allan Collins and Kathy Reichs
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Bones by Jan Burke

Do you have a favorite “Bones” book to recommend? Or a word that pops up often in your list of titles?