Library Giving Away Books

If you've been meaning to get back into the habit of reading, the Somerset County Library System may have a deal for you: library branches are handing out new books as part of World Book Night.

The Hillsborough Library has copies of "Looking for Alaska," by John Green, that will be given out in the program that is seeking to distirbute half a million free books in an ambitious campaign aimed at promoting reading. The mission of World Book Night is to seek out those without the means or access to printed books.

Some volunteers in Somerset County will be picking up their books at the Bridgewater Library in Bridgewater, to distribute them at VA hospitals, roller skating rinks, mass transit, nursing homes, schools, food pantries, and more.

This is the second year the Somerset County Library System has been a partner in World Book Night U.S.  

Bestselling authors Ann Patchett and James Patterson are this year’s honorary chair-people.

“In my experience, when people like what they are doing, they do more of it," Patterson said. "This is the genius of World Book Night — it gets people reading by connecting them with amazing, enjoyable books. I’m honored to be a part of it.”

The books were chosen by an independent panel of booksellers and librarians through several rounds of voting. The printing of the free books was possible due to generosity of the authors, publishers and book manufacturing companies.

Those interested in participating in the future can sign up for the WBN mailing list for news and updates on World Book Night 2014. The free WBN editions are not available at SCLS at any time, except for the WBN volunteers to take into the community, but we will be displaying the books in their regular editions all spring.

The 30 World Book Night U.S. titles for 2013, alphabetical by author, are:

• City of Thieves, David Benioff (Plume/Penguin Group (USA))
• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks)
• My Antonia, Willa Cather (Dover)
• Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier (Plume/Penguin Group (USA))
• The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (Vintage/Random House)
• La casa en Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros; translated by Elena Poniatowska  (Vintage Español/Random House)
• The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho (HarperOne/HarperCollins)
• El Alquimista, Paulo Coelho (Rayo/HarperCollins)
• The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh (Ballantine Books/Random House)
• The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan (Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Bossypants, Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur/Back Bay Books)
• Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett  (William Morrow Paperbacks/HarperCollins)
• Still Alice, Lisa Genova (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster)
• Looking for Alaska, John Green (Speak/Penguin Group (USA))
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham (Bantam/Random House)
• Mudbound, Hillary Jordan (Algonquin Books/Workman Publishing)
• The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster; illus. by Jules Feiffer (Yearling/Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• Moneyball, Michael Lewis (W. W. Norton)
• The Tender Bar, J. R. Moehringer (Hyperion)
• Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosley (Simon & Schuster)
• Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Population: 485, Michael Perry (HarperPerennial/HarperCollins)
• The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion)
• Montana Sky, Nora Roberts (Berkley/Penguin Group (USA))
• Look Again, Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin’s)
• Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris (Back Bay Books/Little Brown)
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor Books/Random House)
• Glaciers, Alexis M. Smith (Tin House Books)
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain (Dover)
• Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury)
• Favorite American Poems (Large Print edition) various authors (Dover)