Ask the Author: Mindy Kaling
Answered Questions (12)
Mindy Kaling
I love reading in bed because slipping into a light nap while reading for a few minutes is the best kind of sleep.
Mindy Kaling
I would love to have played Danny Castellano. He is such a big part of my personality.
Mindy Kaling
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.
Mindy Kaling
This is a great question and not lame at all—especially the last part about animal mash-ups, which took a real left turn. None of the chapters were easy to write, though some were more enjoyable than others. I loved writing the fiction chapter of letters between two teachers at Dalton. I could write a movie about those two. Writing about specific people in my life – especially my love life – is challenging because I want it to be fair, but also entertaining. So the chapter about Will in “One of the President’s Men” took a lot of hard work. My favorite? I like the last chapter, “Why Not Me,” especially because young women seem to respond to it so much.
As for combining any two animals – I would love to see a raccoon that could be trained like a dog—domesticated like a pet. Is that a good answer?
As for combining any two animals – I would love to see a raccoon that could be trained like a dog—domesticated like a pet. Is that a good answer?
Mindy Kaling
Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. I love how gruff he is.
Mindy Kaling
I bet I would have liked to be friends with Hermione, but Draco Malfoy would have just got me better, you know? (Just kidding. The answer is Moaning Myrtle, of course.)
Mindy Kaling
Bridget Jones, Humbert Humbert, and Grendel? That’s troubling.
Mindy Kaling
I’ve lied about reading The Tipping Point for forever. I know I would love it, and I have heard it quoted at dinner parties so many times that part of me feels like I read it. But I haven’t.
Mindy Kaling
I think my background influences my writing in ways I haven’t even fully grasped yet. My favorite writer is Jhumpa Lahiri, because she writes so beautifully about the Indian immigrant experience to the Northeast in the 1970’s and 80’s, which is literally the story of my family. I wish she would be more prolific, because everything she has ever written has spoken to me so personally.
I don’t write about it as specifically as Jhumpa, but I think my background influences my writing in the way I write so openly about ambition. Ambition and dreaming of faraway places and success is something all over the pages of my book. I get that directly from my parents and their journey making it to this country. Growing up, there was no shame in being ambitious, and no shame in hard work. Ambition and grit aren’t the most traditionally “feminine” qualities, but they were celebrated in my family. I love writing about them.
I don’t write about it as specifically as Jhumpa, but I think my background influences my writing in the way I write so openly about ambition. Ambition and dreaming of faraway places and success is something all over the pages of my book. I get that directly from my parents and their journey making it to this country. Growing up, there was no shame in being ambitious, and no shame in hard work. Ambition and grit aren’t the most traditionally “feminine” qualities, but they were celebrated in my family. I love writing about them.
Mindy Kaling
Definitely The Catcher in the Rye. Just kidding! I love Patricia Highsmith’s books about Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley is the first book), but there are more Ripley books that come after that one! The series of five books is known as the Ripliad. Why isn’t that a TV series?
Mindy Kaling
I wish I had written The Corrections. The level of comic observation in that book is so good, I had to put it down many times just to let Franzen’s words soak in. I also wish I had written The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. It’s so cinematic. Why hasn’t it been made into a movie?
Mindy Kaling
Welcome to Boston (or Brookline)! That’s a very cool place to live. The great Conan O’Brien grew up there and so did the Kennedys, I think. I could look that up but I don’t want to be wrong, so let’s just say they did. So the sad thing about growing up in the ’90s is that there were tons of bookstores everywhere in the Greater Boston area, but so many of them have closed down. It's like payphones. Wordsworth in Harvard Square was the best bookstore ever, which closed in 2004. One that is still around is the New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton, which is actually a massive, amazing bookstore that isn’t mobile at all. I spent so much of my childhood there buying amazing books at super-good prices. It’s honestly the most fun environment. My dad would bring us there and we would sit and look through books for hours at a time. It’s a total must-go. Thanks for liking my show and books!
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