Ernest J. Gaines' "A Lesson Before Dying" wasn't the book that launched the one-city, one-book reading phenomenon sweeping across the country, but it came close.

That honor went to Russell Banks' "The Sweet Hereafter," the first community reading choice for "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book" in 1998.

"A Lesson Before Dying" was the next book on all of Seattle's reading list. After Seattle came a trio of Gaines-reading cities in New York: Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. Other cities followed, most recently, Greensboro, N.C. By Gaines' estimate, some 10 to 12 cities have chosen his book.

Richmond is next on his list. His visit tomor row caps this fall's Go Read program, an allvolunteer project designed to promote community.

He calls his one-book, one-city experiences "extraordinary."

Take what happened in Greensboro: "There was a long line to get the book autographed," Gaines said by phone recently from his home in Lafayette, La. "Many of the people talked while they were in line. Whites and blacks said the same thing: that never would have happened if they hadn't stood in that line.

"They're there with each other, and you have to say something. As they walked away, I heard several of them saying, 'We'll be talking,' 'We enjoyed seeing you' or something like that.

"The people coming together, all these people coming up to me talking about how that book was bringing them together. One can't imagine anything like that. No one can imagine a book would be taken like that."

What Gaines saw in Greensboro was a community of readers.

That's the idea behind all these reading programs, including Richmond's Go Read: to build community by shared reading and discussion.

This fall, Richmond has seen more than 30 official Go Read public discussions in libraries, bookstores, churches, schools and businesses. A number of private book clubs and other groups have talked about the book as well.

But nothing gives a book more clarity than hearing the author read from it and talk about it. That's what Gaines will do tomorrow in two appearances.

He'll spend the morning at a students-only event at James River High School, where he'll meet more than 700 students from area public and private schools. Tomorrow evening he'll give a free public reading at 5:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

"A Lesson Before Dying" tells the story of Jefferson, a young black man who was an unintentional party to a liquor store robbery and shootout. He is convicted of murder and sentenced to die. His godmother convinces Grant, a teacher, to visit Jefferson in jail and teach him "A Lesson Before Dying."

Other cities have found much in the book to discuss. "I think they're finding topics to talk about," Gaines said. "The death penalty, the judicial system, teaching, the different generations, religion, what do we teach in a school, what's the relationship between teacher and student, all these sorts of things. There are a lot of topics they can jump on."

The book deals with death, but, as Gaines said, "the book is not about death. I try to emphasize that the book is about growth.

"When they ask me what I think, I always tell them the main theme is commitment to responsibility. This is it, whether you have two or three weeks or a month to live or whether you have another 40 or 50 years left to live. What do you do with that time? This is what I was trying to do."

Gaines visits schools on most of his one-city, one-book trips. "I've met high schoolers who've said: 'This is the first novel I've read in a long time.'

"If you get books out there that are interesting for them, these kids will read them. I get letters from high school kids that say: 'I don't like to read, and the only reason I read your book is because my teacher made me, but now I'm glad I did.'"

In his travels, he has met a lot of young men who identify with Jefferson. "Many of these kids see themselves in Jefferson's skin. They can see themselves getting caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. And many of them have experienced this. I've heard it from Asian kids. I've heard it from Hispanic kids. 'We know Jefferson, because we've been there.'"

His book often finds its way into jails, and Gaines has visited several to talk to young inmates. "A lot of those kids who've gone to jail in their early teens, this is the first time they've ever read a novel."

Gaines started writing when he was just a kid living in rural Louisiana's Point Coupee Parish, in a setting much like the "quarter" in "A Lesson Before Dying."

"Without knowing that I'm writing, I started writing for the old people on this plantation where I lived, because none of these older people had ever gone to school. I'd write letters for them and read letters when they received mail. But I did not know that I was going to write."

He didn't figure that out until he started to read. "My folks took me away from Louisiana in 1948. I was 15 years old. There was no high school in the parish where I lived, and I could not go to the library or anything. There was nothing there for me.

In California, "I found myself in a public library. I used to read and read and read all the time. I was reading works of white writers, because at that time in this small town in this library there were few books by or about African-Americans. But I could always read and read and read. And it was then that I tried to write.

"I thought: 'I can write a novel about Louisiana.' I didn't know how hard writing novels was. You know what Hawthorne once said: 'Easy reading is damn hard writing.' Amen to that. It is hard to write well."

Eventually, he did write novels about Louisiana, which is where he set "A Lesson Before Dying." That book, published in 1993, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club in 1997.

Gaines is also the author of other novels, among them "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman." He's working on another book now, but, as he says, "it doesn't do to talk about it."

He also teaches advanced creative writing to 12 students who spend three hours with him every Tuesday night. "I don't know that I can teach creative writing," he said. "I think I can help someone improve his writing.

"We sit around the table and discuss a piece of work. Each must contribute. I'm just the guy sitting at the head of the table keeping it moving."

At one time, Gaines taught out of necessity because he didn't have enough money to live on. Now, he said, "it keeps me in touch with writing and people interested in writing and people interested in reading. So that's why I teach now."

He plans to retire next year when he turns 70. "But I'll always be around. I have former students sending me manuscripts, so I guess for the rest of my life I'll always be teaching or giving advice."

Contact Jann Malone at (804) 649-6820 or jmalone@timesdispatch.com.