Mahfouz showed me the extraordinary within the ordinary: Elif Shafak

Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak never read Naguib Mahfouz's works until she joined university but after she could lay her hands on a book by the Nobel Laureate, she says he showed her the extraordinary within the ordinary, the invisible within the visible, and the many layers underneath the surface.

The book was "Midaq Alley", sold to her by the grumpy owner of a second-hand bookshop in Istanbul.

In fact, till then, Shafak had no idea of who Mahfouz was.

The bookshop owner, whom she describes as a sour-tempered, middle-aged man with thick glasses and a haircut that had never been popular in any era, would often pick a customer randomly and quiz him or her on their knowledge of literature, history, science or philosophy.

He refused to sell books to customers who failed his tests, says the author whose "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World" was shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize.

One day, the man asked Shafak whether she has read Mahfouz.

"I froze. I had no idea who he was talking about. Slowly, I shook my head. The bookseller said nothing, though his disappointment was visible," she says, adding he grabbed a book from the shelf behind him and pushed it into her hands saying loud and clear: "Read him!"