Each Wednesday during the month of October, a group of readers will meet during lunch at Vought to discuss the book they are all reading, “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines.

The book is the selection of the local arm of a nationwide program sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts that encourages entire communities to read the same book at the same time to foster larger dialogues based on themes presented in the works.

Gwen Sanford moderates the Vought book discussion, where 40 employees who are reading the book can discuss the story.

“It’s interesting and powerful,” Sanford said. “It is a moving book.”

Sanford said some group members said the book showed the ignorance of some people of the generation represented in the book, while some said it accurately captured the era.

“One reader said, ‘a younger reader would think that [what happens to Jeffrey, the main character] was more racial than it really was’,” Sanford said.

Sanford said a good discussion ensued after a character in the novel insinuates that the main character is compared to a hog or “hawg” as the word is used in the book.

Sanford said the group is not really structured, and for good reason — people read at different speeds, and some have more reading time than others. The discussion group will continue until everyone in the group has read the book.

“I am in chapter 17, on page 129,” Sanford said.

Throughout October, The Union-Recorder will track the progress of some of the readers during Baldwin County’s Big Read. For more information, visit www.bigread.org.