Mary Daniels Brown
My mother always insisted that, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, she’d find me in my crib after my nap babbling away, with a Little Golden Book on my lap. I’ve had my nose in a book ever since. I grew up in a small town, with the tiny town library literally in my backyard. As an only child in an unhappy home, I found comfort and companionship in books.
As an adult I wanted to be Harry Potter, although I admit I’m more Hermione. My life has been a series of research projects. Reading has taught me that human lives are deliciously messy and that “it’s complicated” isn’t a punchline.
South Korean author Han Kang won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize on Monday for “The Vegetarian,” a novel about a “completely unremarkable” woman, to use the book’s description, who subverts societal norms including, in a nod to the title, giving up eating meat.
