The Greatest List of Book Ideas for Charades - 160 Ideas (2021)

Charades is a great game for family and friends of all ages! The challenge is trying to come up with fresh ideas to act out.

We have a huge list of book titles for you to choose from below, however, if you’d like a more fun way to come up with book (or other) charades ideas, you could check out our free Charades Ideas Generator for more help. With that said, let’s continue!

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With books in particular, there are usually a small number of titles that are always acted out in every game - sometimes you could almost guess what someone is acting out before they even get to the amount of words in the title! But with so many options to choose from, why not try to act out a book title that’s more untraditional in most charades games?

Either way, if you’re looking for more ideas based on books - both well-known and not - then this is the article for you!

Our list of book ideas below is split up into 8 different categories, including Romance, Mystery, Fantasy and science fiction, Thrillers and horror, Motivational and self-help, Religious, Biography and memoir, and Kids books.

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Romance books

Why not light a few candles and set the mood before acting out these charades ideas? You can check out our list of romance books below.

Note: Some of the books in our lists have also been made for the screen, so if you choose one that you know has been adapted, don’t forget to signal that it’s both a book and a film, tv show, etc.! If you need a reminder on how to signal what you’re acting out, you can read our article on How to play Charades.

• Pride and Prejudice
• The Duke and I
• Outlander
• Red, White & Royal Blue
• Me Before You
• The Notebook
• 50 Shades of Grey
• The Bride Test
• Jane Eyre
• Eleanor & Park
• Wuthering Heights
• The Wedding Date
• The Time Traveler's Wife
• Call Me By Your Name
• Boyfriend Material
• The Ex Talk
• If I Never Met You
• The Giver of Stars
• The Kiss Quotient
• The Devil Wears Black

Mystery books

See below for our list of mystery book titles you can act out in a fun game of charades - let’s just hope your performances with these ideas aren’t as big of a mystery to those guessing, otherwise, let’s hope you have a few Sherlocks on your team!

• A Study in Scarlet
• The Maltese Falcon
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
• Dark Sky
• The Thursday Murder Club
• Heartbreak Bay
• The Big Sleep
• Gone Girl
• The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• The Woman in White
• The Rebecca Notebook: and Other Memories
• Big Little Lies
• Transient Desires
• Case Histories
• The Da Vinci Code
• Murder on the Orient Express
• The Daughter of Time
• In The Woods
• The Day of the Jackal

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Fantasy and science fiction books

It might be hard to believe the ideas on this list, but that’s probably just because they’re fantasy and science fiction books… Moving on swiftly, you’ll find a bunch of great book titles to act out below - all of which were created from the imagination, which is the best tool to have in charades!

• The Lord of the Rings
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• The Lies of Locke Lamora
• A Song of Ice and Fire
• The Golem and the Djinni
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
• The Last Unicorn
• His Dark Materials
• Circle
• Earthlings
• Dune
• The Blazing World
• Foundation
• Snow Crash
• The Stars My Destination
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
• A Scanner Darkly
• The Left Hand of Darkness
• The Resisters

Thrillers and horror books

Personally, I won’t be able to give you any recommendations of the horror books in this list… But thankfully this is just a list to act out in a game of charades, so we’ll be fine as long as I don’t have to read them, right? Check out our thriller and horror book ideas to act out below.

• The Guest List
• Later
• The Haunting of Hill House
• Pet Sematary
• The Silent Patient
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Let The Right One In
• The Turn of the Screw
• I Am Legend
• Hell House
• The Family Upstairs
• Nine Perfect Strangers
• In A Dark, Dark Wood
• The Cutting Seasons
• Behind Closed Doors
• An Untamed State
• Before I Go to Sleep
• The Hunting Party
• The Imposter

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Motivational and self-help books

Earlier, it was said that some books you act out may be guessed before even signalling the amount of words in the title, but the chances of this happening with motivational and self-help books are very slim. Why not create more of a charades challenge with this list?

P.S. I highly recommend first on the list - an easy read but difficult charades action!

• Atomic Habits
• Girl, Stop Apologizing
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life
• The Alchemist
• The Power of Now Journal
• Awaken The Giant Within
• Choose Yourself
• Think and Grow Rich
• The Art of Happiness
• How Not To Die
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Big Magic
• Now, Discover Your Strengths
• The Power of Positive Thinking
• Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
• Tools of Titans
• Year of Yes
• The Secret
• The Greatest Salesman In The World

Religious books

I would be very surprised if you couldn’t guess some of the books in this list, but on the other hand, I would be very surprised if you could guess them all. Check out our list of religious books that you can act out in a game of charades below.

• The Bible
• The Quran
• The Tipitaka
• The Tanakh
• The Vedas
• The Guru Granth Sahib
• The Case for Faith
• Man’s Search for Meaning
• Gilead
• The Great Partnership
• Miracles From Heaven
• The Prophets
• Bring on the Blessings
• Real Happiness
• Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time
• On the Path to Enlightenment
• Radiant Mind
• Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
• Generation M
• When Things Fall Apart

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Autobiography and memoir books

Get more personal with this list of autobiography and memoir books to choose from!

Note: I have put the author’s name beside each book title for this list, simply so you know who the autobiographies are about - there is no need to include the name in your charades performance.

• Becoming (Michelle Obama)
• The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
• Long Walk to Freedom (Nelson Mandela)
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou)
• Greenlights (Matthew McConaughey)
• Educated (Tara Westover)
• Born a Crime (Trevor Noah)
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin)
• Chronicles Vol 1 (Bob Dylan)
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (Stephen King)
• I Am Ozzy (Ozzy Osbourne)
• The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Mahatma Gandhi)
• A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway)
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Malcolm X)
• A Beautiful Mind (Sylvia Nasar)
• Me (Elton John)
• You’ve Got This: And Other Things I Wish I Had Known (Louise Redknapp)
• The Lost City of Z (David Grann)
• Tall Tales and Wee Stories: The Best of Billy Connolly (Billy Connolly)
• A Promised Land (Barack Obama)

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Kids books

You can check out our list of kids books below, but if you would like more ideas for kids you can have a look at our article on Charades Ideas for Kids of All Ages. As another option, you can use our free Kids Charades Generator for a generator tailored completely to children!

• The Cat in the Hat
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Where the Wild Things Are
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Little Miss Sunshine
• James and the Giant Peach
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• The Princess Diaries
• A Bear Called Paddington
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• The BFG
• Inkheart
• Charlotte's Web
• The Twits
• A Series of Unfortunate Events
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• Winnie the Pooh
• Goodnight Moon
• The Ickabog

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Looking for More Ideas?

If you’re looking for even more charades ideas, why not check out our Charades Ideas Generator? With our free generator, you can filter through multiple categories to get the perfect charades ideas for you to act out! If you would like more book ideas, it also has some titles that aren’t mentioned here - have fun!