THIS WEEK I have been reading Killing Floor by Lee Child. I spotted it at my friend’s house and asked if I could borrow it when she’d finished.

As it turned out the novel is one of the 25 titles selected for this year’s World Book Night and her copy was one that had been bought especially for this annual event. It bears the name of the original owner at the back. (Thank you Penelope Rigg for your initial investment).

My friend was more than happy to pass the book on to me because that is the destiny of World Book Night copies – to be shared with as many readers as possible.

Of the 25 volumes selected by a judging panel, which included Stephen Fry, James Naughtie and Alan Yentob, I discovered that I have read only three – John le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. Now I’ve added the Killing Floor and the quest has begun to get my hands on a copy of the other 21. On the strength of the Killing Floor, which I greatly enjoyed, I may have to buy some.

As many as 1m books were printed for World Book Night – that’s 40,000 copies of each – and the aim is to ensure several million people read them.

The only downside of the exercise is that readers have to log on to the www.worldbooknight.org website and register themselves and the book they are reading. For a reluctant Facebook user like myself this proved to be almost beyond my technical capabilities. But after quite a bit of clicking and swearing under my breath I think I have managed to create a profile, although I am still unsure how I get to actually review the book (I may have filled the wrong details in the right box).

There are all sort of book groups and twitter feeds to join for those who like that sort of thing, but I shall stick to reading.