Hello to “Goodbye”

I love Chicago, although I haven’t had a chance to visit there in a few years. And I’m looking with particular fondness upon the city today, as I understand that Mayor Richard M. Daley has declared that Raymond Chandler’s 1953 Philip Marlowe novel, The Long Goodbye, will be the subject of Chi-town’s April citywide reading program, “One Book, One Chicago”--the first time in the program’s history that a crime novel has been chosen.

As the Chicago Public Library Web site reports:

Throughout April, special programs, readings, film screenings and book discussions will take place throughout the city. The Music Box Theatre has chosen films written by Chandler or adapted from his novels as the focus of their weekend matinee series in April. The local Chicago crime writers who make up The Outfit Collective will take part in a virtual discussion of the book online this month as well.

A list of Long Goodbye-related events--including lectures and films--is available here. More background on Chicago-born Chandler and his work can be found here.

Yep: Chicago, my kinda town. I wish I could be there next month.

READ MORE: “Chandler, ‘One Book, One Chicago’ and The Outfit,” by Libby Hellman (The Outfit).