Love it or hate it, World Book Night is back, with a third book giveaway planned for Shakespeare's birthday on the 23 April.

There's an air of the event pulling in its horns a little, with organisers planning to distribute only 500,000 books in the UK in 2013 – half as many as in previous years. Book-givers, who can sign up at worldbooknight.org, are to receive only 20 copies of their chosen title. Only. That's still a hefty pile of books. And if survey results suggesting that 95% of givers felt they had been "quite or very successful" at reaching those "who don't regularly read", then that's a whole lot of new readers.

It's intriguing to compare the UK list (below), with the list in the US – though it doesn't look like the German list has been published yet. In the UK, blue chip fiction is represented by Sebastian Barry and Rose Tremain – in the US, it's Margaret Atwood and Jesmyn Ward. Britain has James Bond, but America has John Grisham. Treasure Island sits opposite Mark Twain.

Any list that puts Jeanette Winterson cheek by jowl with Judge Dredd must be doing something right, but if you could summon up 20 copies of any book under the sun, what would you choose to convince non-readers of the joys of reading?

UK titles for World Book Night 2013

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Faber)

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (RHCB)

The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (HarperCollins)

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Hodder)

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (Vintage)

A Little History of the World by EH Gombrich (Yale)

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (Simon & Schuster)

Little Face by Sophie Hannah (Hodder)

Damage by Josephine Hart (Virago)

The Island by Victoria Hislop (Headline)

Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay (Picador)

Last Night Another Soldier… by Andy McNab (Transworld)

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (Penguin)

Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Walker)

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (Orion)

No 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Little, Brown)

Treasure Island by RL Stevenson (Penguin)

The Road Home by Rose Tremain (Vintage)

Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges by John Wagner (Rebellion)

Why be Happy When You Could be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson (Vintage)