One Book One Paterson: Turning the page

"A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shootout in which three men are killed; the only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to DEATH!!" I believe (My opinion) that unfortunately there are parts of this back story/story that parallels PAINFULLY to many of our Black youth (Social Injustice and etc.) of today, 2020. WAIT I'M ALMOST FINISHED WRITING THIS POST!! Therefore, those are my feelings/interpretation of the story mentioned above. We would like to have you and your friends come on out and join our group discussion (Get a FREE copy of the book) at the Main (See information posted) Library!! By doing so, we could then hear your take on this bone chilling story. What Say YOU?!!! Lewis Cole

Have you read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines yet? All of Paterson is reading this book for the One Book One Paterson campaign. Before the campaign launched in February, I searched online for an audio version but with no luck. So, I downloaded and listened to the play instead. The play, based on the book, was easy to listen to in the car. Although it is very emotional and a tearjerker in some places, it was good distraction for my trips to Trenton, up and down the Parkway and Turnpike.  In fact, I listened to nothing else on the car radio while I was driving alone. Some evenings I would pull into my driveway and sit there listening for a while until I got to the end of the chapter. My husband would call from inside the house to see if I’m OK. (After so many years you’d think he expected this by now!) Once the campaign launched, I knew I would have to make the time to read the actual book. I’m about halfway through and WOW! This an awesome piece of literature! While i...