In this episode of The BookJelly Podcast, I speak about arriving late to a writer. My first sustained encounter with Naguib Mahfouz came not through syllabi or reputation, but almost accidentally, via Salman Rushdie’s Knife. The Quarter, a posthumously discovered collection of short stories set in a single Cairo neighborhood, became my entry point into Mahfouz’s world.

I reflect on hesitation toward fiction, the texture of everyday life Mahfouz captures so quietly, and why this uneven but honest book lingered with me. This is not a definitive review, but a first reading. A beginning, not a conclusion.