Extreme Makeover
Update a character or two from any book, especially if the action is set in an earlier era. Place the character in today’s culture—and invent a life.
Example: Lydia Bennett (Pride & Prejudice) reads Cosmo (never Vogue; what's Atlantic Monthly?), hits the clubs at night, and wears cheap Manolo Blahnik knock-offs. Big hair. Thinks “Sex and the City” is serious drama and is always on the lookout for Mr. Big.
Example: Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby) twice-a-week elocution lessons (the rain in Spain). Fastidious—flosses morning and night, wears Armani. Listens to rap in private, but forces himself to attend the opera, alone. Was a big player in Enron but managed to avoid indictment...so far.
Alphabet Soup
Working around the room, each member names a character, event, place, or object from the book— the first letter of which starts with A, the next word starts with B, the next word C and so forth through Z. Variation: use the last letter of the previous word as the starting letter for the next word—a bit harder.
Hollywood Bowl
Cast a book as a movie. Pass around a bowl with folded slips of paper containing titles of recent book selections. Each member (or team of 2) draws a title and casts the movie. Variation: Each member (or team of 2) writes his/her casting choice for the current selection on a piece of paper. Take turns reading out everyone's choices.
Literary Snowballs
This is actually a lot of fun. Divide into 2 teams on either side of the room. Hand everyone an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper on which to write a question from the book. Crumple the sheets into “snowballs” and, at a signal, throw them across the room to the other team. The team who correctly answers the most snowball questions wins. (The question writer on the other team must agree to the answer.) Scoring: 2 points for answering the question; 1 point for posing a question the other team can’t answer.
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Chose someone to read quotes by or about various characters — from the current book or past book selections. Members try to guess who said what and when. If you want, divide into teams and keep score. (This icebreaker takes a bit of prep.)
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