Silverlake Book Club

Name: Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
Start: 2026-03-12T02:30:00.000Z
End: 2026-03-12T04:00:00.000Z
Location: 4100 Bar

4.8•102 ratings

About us

Welcome to Silver Lake Book Club! Please scroll down to the AUTHOR SCAMMER ALERT subsection if anyone has reached out to you with a proposal to collaborate with the book club in exchange for money/information.

WHAT WE DO: We meet the second Wednesday of every month at 7:30 pm to discuss an awesome book over drinks (alcoholic or otherwise).

WHO SHOULD JOIN: People who love to read + make attempts at intelligent literary conversations. ALL age groups are welcome, provided you are 21+ (because most of our Meetups take place at a bar). You don’t have to live in Silver Lake to attend!

WHO’S HOSTING: I'm Colin. If you’ve been coming to previous iterations of the club, you probably remember the former hosts, Jim and Krista, who took over from original hosts Olivia and Elise. As a former attendee who re-launched the club in September 2023, I'm excited to keep the group going!

HOW IT WORKS: The following day after each Meetup, we’ll post a poll for you all to vote on the book for an upcoming month. Folks have until that Saturday night (11:59pm) to vote! That Sunday, we’ll officially announce the selection. [Have a book you’d like to nominate to be a part of the poll? Bring your suggestion in-person to the Meetup.]

PRETTY PLEASE NOTE: There are 1000+ members in this group, and for now, we’re capping the attendees to 20 for each event (because, er, any larger than that and things can get complicated), so if you RSVP and cannot make it, we ask that you give the group an immediate notice as early as possible so that someone else can have your spot.

OTHER STUFF: If you want to share something for the whole group to see (like, “Hey, where can I find a cheap copy of this month’s book?”), post a comment. If you have a question or comment just for the hosts, message Colin directly for a speedier reply.

AUTHOR SCAMMER ALERT: A number of authors have been contacted by a scammer who has pretended to be me and who has sought to acquire money in exchange for having specific books discussed during monthly meetups. Yikes! Please know that the Silverlake Book Club will never solicit money from anyone for any reason nor contact authors with proposals to have their books featured in the book club, and that I will only contact individual members through my main Meetup account or through the email address linked in my profile (disregard messages from "Colin" from all other sources!). It's so unfortunate that I have to warn folks about this, but here we are.

Hope to see you all there :)

Featured event

3 seats left

Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

Wed, Mar 11 · 7:30 PM PDT

4100 Bar, 1087 Manzanita St, Los Angeles, ca, US

WHAT WE'RE READING: Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

WHAT IT IS ABOUT: "Widely acclaimed as Naguib Mahfouz's best novel, Midaq Alley brings to life one of the hustling, teeming back alleys of Cairo in the 1940s. From Zaita the cripple-maker to Kirsha the hedonistic cafe owner, from Abbas the barber who mistakes greed for love to Hamida who sells her soul to escape the alley, from waiters and widows to politicians, pimps, and poets, the inhabitants of Midaq Alley vividly evoke Egypt's largest city as it teeters on the brink of change. Never has Nobel Prize-winner Mahfouz's talent for rich and luxurious storytelling been more evident than here, in his portrait of one small street as a microcosm of the world on the threshold of modernity."

WHERE WE'RE MEETING: 4100 Bar in Silver Lake

A NOTE ON PARKING: Street parking should be more readily accessible on Sunset Blvd to the west of the meet-up location.

A NOTE ON THE MEET-UP SEATING LOCATION: Meet-ups are generally held on the bar terrace, if sufficient seating is available. Please dress warmly in the event of cool evening weather!

A NOTE ON RSVPING: If your name is on the attendee list for a scheduled meet-up and you no longer plan on attending the event, please remove your name from the attendee list at least a week before the scheduled event to allow individuals on the waitlist sufficient time to read the book beforehand (no worries if a cancellation has to be last-minute, though!).

Happy reading!

Colin