Strayed's 'Wild,' others chosen for World Book Night giveaway

• It%27s like an %22intellectual Halloween%2C only better%22
• Half a million books to be given away April 23%2C 2014
• The program is in search of 25%2C000 volunteer %22book givers%22%3B those interested can apply online

NEW YORK — Cheryl Strayed's best-selling memoir, Wild, already part of Oprah's Book Club, is among the 35 titles to be given away on the third annual World Book Night U.S. on April 23.

Next year's titles, a wide range of popular novels, memoirs and books aimed at teens, were announced Wednesday night at a party in New York City that was beamed across the country in a video chat.

Modeled on a British program, World Book Night U.S. is sponsored by a coalition of publishers, booksellers and librarians, who recruit 25,000 volunteers across the country to give away 500,000 paperbacks next spring.

The idea "is to get good books in the hands of people who are underserved because of income or location or other reasons," says Carl Lennertz, the program's director.

Volunteer "book givers" can apply online, starting at 9 a.m. Thursday, at us.worldbooknight.org.

This year's titles, recommended by librarians, booksellers and past book givers, include best-selling novels (Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale and Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent), memoirs (Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and Doris Kearns Goodwin's Wait Till Next Year) and classics (Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Agatha Christie's After the Funeral).

Five of the titles are aimed at teens, including Walter Dean Myers' Sunrise Over Fallujah and Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

A memoir by Esmeralda Santiago will be available in both English (When I Was Puerto Rican) and Spanish (Cuando Era Puertorriquena).

Two titles also will be available in large-print editions: Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette and Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

And for the first time, the program will include a graphic novel, Derek Kirk Kim's Same Difference.

Novelist and essayist Anna Quindlen, the program's honorary chairwoman in 2012, has called the annual event an "intellectual Halloween, only better. We're giving out books, not just Mars bars."

In past years, volunteers have gone to prisons, homeless shelters, bars and senior-citizen centers to give away special World Book Night paperback editions. Authors and publishers waive their royalties.

Here are the 35 titles to be given away on April 23, 2014:

• The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
• The Perks of Being a Wallflowerby Stephen Chbosky
• After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
• The Ruins of Gorlan: Ranger's Apprentice Book 1by John Flanagan
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (also in large print)
• The Lighthouse Road by Peter Geye
• The Tipping Pointby Malcolm Gladwell
• Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• The Dog Starsby Peter Heller
• Hootby Carl Hiaasen
• Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegonby Garrison Keillor
• Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim
• Enchantedby Alethea Kontis
• Miss Darcy Falls in Love by Sharon Lathan
• Bobcat and Other Storiesby Rebecca Lee
• Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
• Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan
• Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
• Sunrise Over Fallujahby Walter Dean Myers
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Childrenby Ransom Riggs
• When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago (and its Spanish edition, Cuando Era Puertorriqueña)
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (also in large print)
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed
• Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
• Code Name Verityby Elizabeth Wein
• This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
• 100 Best-Loved Poemsedited by Philip Smith