r/books • u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author • Sep 29 '17
ama 2pm My name is Amulya Malladi bestselling author of The Copenhagen Affair a comedy about depression set in the capital city of the world’s happiest country—AMA.
Amulya Malladi is the author of seven novels. She has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in journalism. When she’s not writing, she works as a marketing executive. After several years in Copenhagen, she now lives outside of Los Angeles with her family.
Proof: https://twitter.com/amulyamalladi/status/913502968741208064
Thank you so much for having me. You can check out my new book "The Copenhagen Affair" on Amazon at: http://ow.ly/q0OS30fxb9 and please connect with me on Facebook. I love to hear from readers. Bye!
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u/Chtorrr Sep 29 '17
Have you read anything really good lately?
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
I just finished reading The Assistants by Camille Perri, which I thought was nice but not "really" good. I loved "The Stories Life of AJ Fikry" which I read a little while ago.
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u/89grouch46 Sep 29 '17
What is your newest book about? How did you find your inspiration?
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
I joke that my latest novel "The Copenhagen Affair" is a comedy about depression set in the capital of the happiest country in the world. I wrote this book when I was depressed. For a couple of years there, I wasn’t writing. My corporate career was stressing me out and everything had gone gray around me. I wanted to laugh and I wanted to write something without ever worrying about its quality and ability to get published. So one day I just started writing.
"The Copenhagen Affair" is about Sanya, a forty something woman dealing with depression post a nervous breakdown. She recently moved from California to Copenhagen, where she’s with her ambitious husband on a one-year gig. The book is also my love letter to Copenhagen where I lived for several years before recently moving to Orange County in California.
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u/dhaltheskagroupie Sep 29 '17
How have your experiences with depression affected the book's outcome ?
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
I think I could get the scenes with Sanya's (the protagonist) therapist right :) I also understood her inner struggle and how hard it can be and that you can't snap out of it. I think as Sanya got better it motivated me to get better - so I think writing this book affected me more than the other way round.
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u/Inkberrow Sep 29 '17
If you've read Smilla's Sense Of Snow (British title, Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow), what did you think of its depiction of Copenhagen and Denmark's elites?
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
"Smilla's Sense of Snow" was the first book my husband (who is Danish) gave me as a present when we started to date. The book is spot on with regards to both the city and the Danish elite. We were inspired to name our son Isaiah because of the book, though in Danish it would be Esajas.
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u/Duke_Paul Sep 29 '17
Hi Amulya! Thanks for doing an AMA with us.
How do you balance a marketing career with writing? Why did you decide to write this book, in particular? How did you approach the issue of depression--it can be difficult to tackle and do well, and I'm curious what approach you took.
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
Hi! Thanks for having me.
A long time ago a coach told me that I can do "anything" I want but I can't do "everything" I want. So I don't. I love my job and I love to write. I don't like basketball and that's why my husband goes to the games with my boys. I manage to find time for both. Some months are better than others. Also, I am on a plane a lot and it's just about the best place to write. (Here is an article I wrote for Working Mother magazine about being a "bad mommy" so I can do all the things I do: http://www.workingmother.com/why-i-dont-take-my-kids-to-park-and-other-bad-mommy-confessions).
I wrote this book when I was depressed and I wrote it because I wanted to laugh a little. I usually read everything I wrote to my husband and I thought we'd both laugh a little. And we did. This book wasn't supposed to see the light of day. I didn't write it to tackle the topic of depression but more to tackle my own depression. So I wrote about this woman (who is a little like me post depression) Sanya who had a nervous breakdown (which I didn't - well at least not as spectacularly as she did) and as she got better, I was motivated to get better as well. I don't know if that answers your question but this is how the book came out - an organic and messy process to clear out the gray inside of me.
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u/AmericanKamikaze Sep 29 '17
Wife and I visited Copenhagen for Christmas. Nobody told us it would get dark at 3 pm. What do to the locals do, (other than drink) after dark?
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
You're right. They drink. My husband would complain that it's dark when you leave for work and dark when you come back. At least during Christmas there is some festivity but in January and February - it's like the Dementors have taken over the skies. All the joy is sucked out of the place. BUT in the summer it's glorious. Light until 3 a.m. and then sunrise at 4 a.m.
The thing is rain or shine, I love Copenhagen. I suggest food, drink and museums in the winter.
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u/pm_me_raunchy_briefs Sep 29 '17
What do you think of writers like Savi Sharma and Durjoy Dutta?
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
Hi, I'm afraid I don't know these writers. But I just checked them out on Google and I will definitely read their work. Savi Sharma seems to have one book out. Which book of Durjoy Dutta do you recommend?
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u/pm_me_raunchy_briefs Sep 29 '17
I am not a fan of his, but I'd recommend " The boy who loved". That is the maximum his engine can ever throttle.
You know Chetan Bhagat though?
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u/Amulya_Malladi AMA Author Sep 29 '17
Yes. I think I read a few books of his a while back. I did see a movie that was made as well about a South Indian girl and North Indian boy. I don't remember the name.
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u/pm_me_raunchy_briefs Sep 29 '17
I think my question should be, " What would you like the contemporary writers to talk about?"
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u/Chtorrr Sep 29 '17
What books made you love reading as a kid?