Welcome

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler is the latest selection for One Book, One Chicago. Previous selections for the citywide book club were: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; Night by Elie Wiesel; My Ántonia by Willa Cather; A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry; The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien; The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek; In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez; The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin and The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

Greetings,

As Mayor and on behalf of the City of Chicago, I invite you to participate in the 14th One Book, One Chicago program presented by the Chicago Public Library. This award-winning program encourages all Chicagoans to read the same book at the same time, and to come together with friends and neighbors to share and discuss a great work of literature. This spring, we have selected The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. Chandler, who was born right here in Chicago, has been referred to by many critics as one of the most important writers of the 20th century. His distinct style has influenced fiction, film and more, well beyond just the crime genre. Not only did he create one of fiction’s most memorable portraits of a city—Los Angeles—in books like The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye, but he created one of the most well-known heroes of his time or ours when he created private detective Philip Marlowe. You can find a copy of The Long Goodbye at your neighborhood Chicago Public Library or local bookstore. Please join in one of the many special events and book discussions planned in libraries, bookstores, universities and community centers throughout April.

Sincerely,

Richard M. Daley
Mayor