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Doris Lessing’s reaction to learning she won the Nobel Prize for Golden Notebook? “Oh Christ …”

This made me laugh out loud. Later in the interview, she says, rather sarcastically, “I’ve won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, and I’m delighted to with them all. It’s a whole lot, okay? It’s a royal flush.”

I love it. I love when people don’t care about these major (and political) honors that everyone else drools over. And I love salty old ladies who say what they think.

UPDATE: An interesting follow-up article in the Guardian.

“There were lots of people who have wanted me to have it for a long time, so it is very nice that I have. I’m exhausted. To celebrate I’d have to go and buy champagne. I’m going to bed.”