410 Book Charades Ideas – A Complete List for Book Lovers and Players

There are several charades categories people choose to base their game on—from animals and movies to holidays and celebrities. The category you go with usually depends on what your group or audience is most familiar with or can easily relate to. For book lovers or a school-going audience, books are usually a great choice and often find their way into multi-category or multi-themed charades games.

The only challenge with book categories that we’ve been seeing over the years is that people tend to act out just a small number of the most popular titles, especially motivational and personal improvement books, without exploring other genres. This can be limiting for true book lovers or if you’re planning to base the entire charades game around books. For that, you need a solid list of titles drawn from a wide range of genres.

We’ve compiled a huge list of book titles across different genres for you to choose from if you’re looking to add book-themed prompts to your next charades game. And if you only need a few titles and want to mix things up with ideas from other themes, you can always generate more random prompts using our free Charades Ideas Generator.

Classic Literature

Everyone loves a good classic novel, so kicking off your charades game with classic literature books is always a solid choice. It’s a great way to see which timeless titles your group is familiar with, and maybe even discover a few all-time favorites along the way.

• Pride and Prejudice
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• 1984
• Moby-Dick
• Great Expectations
• Jane Eyre
• The Great Gatsby
• Wuthering Heights
• Little Women
• Frankenstein
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Crime and Punishment
• Brave New World
• The Odyssey
• The Iliad
• Les Misérables
• Don Quixote
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Gulliver’s Travels
• Anna Karenina

Award-Winning Books

The next popular book category you can focus on areaward-winning books because they include titles that have earned recognition for their impact, storytelling, or originality. This is a great way to challenge your group with well-known literary gems while also introducing them to celebrated works they may not have explored yet.

• The Road
• The Goldfinch
• Beloved
• Life of Pi
• The Kite Runner
• Wolf Hall
• The English Patient
• Atonement
• Midnight’s Children
• The Shipping News
• The Underground Railroad
• The Luminaries
• The Sympathizer
• The Orphan Master’s Son
• Lincoln in the Bardo
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
• All the Light We Cannot See
• The Night Watch
• The Sense of an Ending
• The Remains of the Day
• The Blind Assassin

Fantasy and Science Fiction

From magic, distant galaxies, strange creatures, and impossible technology, expect plenty of dramatic acting and wild guesses. If your group enjoys big imagination and bold storytelling, this category will keep everyone on their toes.

• The Lord of the Rings
• The Hobbit
• A Game of Thrones
• Dune
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• Ender’s Game
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Frankenstein
• Brave New World
• Fahrenheit 451
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• The Hunger Games
• The Maze Runner
• The Martian
• Neuromancer
• Ready Player One
• The Left Hand of Darkness
• Foundation
• Snow Crash
• The Time Machine
• Jurassic Park
• The Name of the Wind

Thriller and Suspense

And if you want to raise the tension in your charades game, this is the category to go for. Book titles in this category are packed with twists, danger, secrets, and edge-of-your-seat moments, making them fun (and sometimes dramatic) to act out.

• Gone Girl
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Shutter Island
• The Da Vinci Code
• The Silent Patient
• Before I Go to Sleep
• Misery
• The Woman in the Window
• Big Little Lies
• The Couple Next Door
• Sharp Objects
• The Girl on the Train
• And Then There Were None
• The Secret History
• The Reversal
• The Silence of the Lambs
• The Shining
• Rebecca
• The Talented Mr. Ripley
• Mystic River
• The Stand

Romance

Why not set the mood (figuratively, of course) before diving into this category? Romance books bring heart, drama, and plenty of emotional moments that can be surprisingly fun to act out in charades.

• Pride and Prejudice
• Jane Eyre
• Wuthering Heights
• Outlander
• Me Before You
• The Notebook
• Twilight
• The Time Traveler’s Wife
• The Fault in Our Stars
• Dear John
• The Rosie Project
• Eleanor & Park
• It Ends with Us
• Beach Read
• The Wedding Date
• One Day
• Normal People
• Red, White & Royal Blue
• The Hating Game
• Beautiful Disaster
• The Kiss Quotient
• The Selection
• PS I Love You
• A Walk to Remember
• The Last Song

Motivational and Personal Improvement

Motivational and personal improvement books is a category that tends to get a lot of love when people decide to act out books in charades games. We have been reading them since we were teenagers, and most people are familiar with a title or two. This category is a great chance to continue appreciating the authors of these great books because they have helped us become better in our different life endeavors and have influenced our thought processes in one way or another.

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• Atomic Habits
• The Power of Now
• Think and Grow Rich
• You Are a Badass
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
• Awaken the Giant Within
• Man’s Search for Meaning
• Daring Greatly
• The Four Agreements
• Good to Great
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
• The Alchemist
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• Start with Why
• The Miracle Morning
• The Slight Edge
• Eat That Frog!
• The Magic of Thinking Big
• The Success Principles
• Deep Work
• The 5 Second Rule
• The Happiness Project
• Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
• The Compound Effect
• The One Thing
• Who Moved My Cheese?

Adventure

Adventure books are for anyone who loves a good journey—think of treasure hunts, daring escapes, distant lands, and heroes facing impossible odds. If your group enjoys excitement and imagination, this category will keep the guesses coming.

• Treasure Island
• Robinson Crusoe
• Around the World in Eighty Days
• The Three Musketeers
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• The Call of the Wild
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• King Solomon’s Mines
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Odyssey
• The Hobbit
• The Lord of the Rings
• Life of Pi
• The Hunger Games
• The Maze Runner
• Jurassic Park
• The Lost World
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• Hatchet
• Swiss Family Robinson
• The Island of Doctor Moreau

Inspirational / Christian

We all need hope and reminders that there is meaning and purpose in life, especially during difficult seasons. Many of the titles below draw on spiritual themes and the teachings associated with Christianity, making them thoughtful and meaningful prompts for charades while still being fun to act out and guess.

• The Purpose Driven Life
• Mere Christianity
• The Case for Christ
• The Screwtape Letters
• Heaven Is for Real
• Jesus Calling
• The Shack
• Wild at Heart
• The Pilgrim’s Progress
• Streams in the Desert
• The Hiding Place
• Left Behind
• The Power of a Praying Wife
• The Reason for God
• Crazy Love
• Unbroken
• Love Does
• Redeeming Love
• Case for Faith
• Evidence That Demands a Verdict
• Orthodoxy

Biographies & Memoirs

Every life has a story worth telling, and biographies and memoirs let us glimpse real journeys of success, struggle, and personal growth. If your group enjoys stories rooted in truth and human achievement, you can challenge them to act a few titles below:

• The Diary of a Young Girl
• Long Walk to Freedom
• Becoming
• Educated
• Born a Crime
• Steve Jobs
• The Story of My Experiments with Truth
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• The Glass Castle
• Bossypants
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
• Angela’s Ashes
• Just Kids
• When Breath Becomes Air
• My Life
• A Moveable Feast
• Hillbilly Elegy
• Shoe Dog

Poetry

Words can paint pictures, and poetry does it with rhythm and emotion. Instead of acting out long plots, players can gesture ideas like feelings, nature, or famous poetic themes.

• The Waste Land
• Leaves of Grass
• Milk and Honey
• The Sun and Her Flowers
• Ariel
• The Prophet
• Songs of Innocence and of Experience
• Howl
• Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
• The Divine Comedy
• Paradise Lost
• The Raven and Other Poems
• Odes
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Selected Poems of Robert Frost
• The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats
• The Love Poems of Rumi
• A Book of Luminous Things
• The Spoon River Anthology
• The Cantos
• Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda

Detective Novels

This another book category should miss in your book charades game considering that they are built around clues, mysteries, and clever problem-solving, which makes them perfect for charades.

• The Hound of the Baskervilles
• A Study in Scarlet
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• Murder on the Orient Express
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
• And Then There Were None
• The ABC Murders
• The Moving Finger
• The Maltese Falcon
• The Big Sleep
• The Moonstone
• The Private Patient
• In the Woods
• The Cuckoo’s Calling
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
• Presumed Innocent
• The Name of the Rose
• The Da Vinci Code
• Gone Girl
• Shutter Island
• The Silent Patient

Comedy / Humor

Humor is different for everyone: what makes one person laugh might leave another completely unmoved. That’s what makes comedy books interesting: they explore wit, satire, and silly situations in countless ways. For charades, they offer plenty of room for exaggerated acting and playful guesses, even if the jokes themselves don’t land the same way for every reader.

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Bossypants
• Me Talk Pretty One Day
• Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
• Good Omens
• Catch-22
• Three Men in a Boat
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette
• Bridget Jones’s Diary
• Sick in the Head
• Yes Please
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
• Hyperbole and a Half
• A Walk in the Woods
• The Rosie Project
• Confederacy of Dunces
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff
• The Princess Bride
• David Copperfield
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Slapstick

Banned Books

Here are titles that, for one reason or another, have faced restrictions in different places—yet they remain important conversations about freedom of expression and the power of words.

• The Catcher in the Rye
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Color Purple
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Brave New World
• Animal Farm
• Lord of the Flies
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• Beloved
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• The Hate U Give
• Of Mice and Men
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• Fahrenheit 451
• Lolita
• Maus
• Persepolis
• Ulysses
• The Grapes of Wrath

Short Stories

A short story can deliver a complete, gripping experience in just a few pages. For charades, this category works well because you can act out quick, memorable moments instead of complex plots.

• The Lottery
• The Tell-Tale Heart
• The Gift of the Magi
• The Cask of Amontillado
• The Necklace
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find
• Hills Like White Elephants
• The Yellow Wallpaper
• The Monkey’s Paw
• The Most Dangerous Game
• Rip Van Winkle
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro
• Bartleby, the Scrivener
• The Open Boat
• An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
• The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
• Cathedral
• A Rose for Emily
• The Dead
• The Landlady
• The Story of an Hour
• The Pedestrian
• Harrison Bergeron
• The Scarlet Ibis
• The Veldt
• The Last Leaf
• The Rocking-Horse Winner
• The Gift of the Magi

Book-to-Movie Adaptations

Most people will recognize at least a few of the titles, either from reading the book or watching the film. Whatever titles you pick for your group, remember to signal that it could be either the book or the screen version so that your group has a fair chance at guessing. And if you need a reminder on how to indicate what you’re acting out, you can check guidance on how to play charades for helpful tips.

• The Lord of the Rings
• The Hobbit
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• The Hunger Games
• Dune
• The Great Gatsby
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Pride and Prejudice
• The Shining
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Life of Pi
• The Fault in Our Stars
• The Notebook
• Gone Girl
• The Da Vinci Code
• The Help
• The Color Purple
• The Silence of the Lambs
• The Martian
• Little Women

Children’s Books

If your group includes kids and young learners, this is a category that helps keep them accommodated by giving them opportunities to guess familiar stories. Children’s books work well for kids groups because the titles and characters are often simple, recognizable, and fun to act out.

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Where the Wild Things Are
• Charlotte’s Web
• The Cat in the Hat
• Green Eggs and Ham
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• Matilda
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Goodnight Moon
• The Giving Tree
• Winnie-the-Pooh
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• The Gruffalo
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• Captain Underpants
• Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
• The BFG
• James and the Giant Peach
• Bridge to Terabithia
• A Wrinkle in Time
• The Boxcar Children
• The Magic Tree House
• The Polar Express
• Corduroy
• Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See
• Frog and Toad Are Friends
• Strega Nona
• Little House on the Prairie
• Guess How Much I Love You