Welcome to Mel’s and Jules’s Book Rap, where Melissa LR Handa and Julia Eussen, AnnArbor.com co-contributors, compare thoughts about books and book-events. Sometimes they will agree with one another, other times a heated debate will ensue. No matter what the effect though, it is always fun to get two writers for the price of one!

Mel: Tuesday night at Concordia University, as part of the Kreft Arts Program 2009 series, Bonnie Jo Campbell performed several readings from her new collection “American Salvage”. American Salvage, part of the “Made in Michigan Writers Series”, has been nominated for the 2009 National Book Award in fiction.

Julia, how would you best sum-up “American Salvage” for prospective readers?

Jules: Well Mel, first I’d just like to say that I enjoyed the reading and the atmosphere of the event. It is clear that Prof. Mark Looker, the director of the Kreft Program was rightly pleased to have invited Ms. Campbell before it was announced that she is a finalist for the 2009 award. In addition, she not only read short stories from both her first and current collections, but also poems (such as “You can live at Meijer’s”), and discussed with the audience such questions as “what constitutes a short story?”

Based on the pieces she read last night, plus her own comments, I’d say “American Salvage” is the common person in uncommon circumstances. And if uncommon isn’t the best word, then perhaps extraordinary circumstances; circumstances which are so complex and interwoven with everyday life, it is hard to separate out what to do or how to (re)act and as readers we are voyeurs into these worlds, able to compare the written results with our own musings.

What do you think?

Mel: The best part was Bonnie Jo Campbell herself. Sure, she was weaving stories around ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, but her style of delivery was pert and matter-of-fact. Her succinct reading with pauses and emphases in all of the right places, combined with the methodological organization of her prose really makes her mathematical background quite obvious. Campbell’s fiction is light-hearted but dark, sardonic but serious, detached from both pleasure and pain, and conveys what is real-life even though we may wish that it were otherwise.

In addition to her style, I enjoyed Bonnie Jo Campbell’s brassy attitude. Such asides like, “I like to write poetry—it’s easy compared to fiction”, “you should hang around a junkyard—it’s great; it’s really fun”, and “I think I have a little ADD” entertained us in the midst of stories that were gripping, scary or depressing. She even told us a one-page short story that she wrote after having been inspired by a line from her real-life, a man telling her that he wished “her head could be on her friend’s body.” Pride ain’t no thang when it comes to this down-to-earth author.

I’ll let you take it from here, if you’d like.

Jules: Well, I’m not sure I have a lot more to add, other than asking if you are heading up her fan club. I agree that she has a definite energy and presence which came through at her reading. Separately I suspect it feeds her work - not only in content or style, but she informed the audience that she likes to have multiple projects going on at once. Additionally, when she spoke of her book cover and how pleased that her input was taken into account during the process, her enthusiasm was almost tangible.

One small point, you mentioned her mathematical background. For those who may not be aware, Bonnie Jo Campbell has an M.A. in Mathematics as well as an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, both from Western Michigan University. However, this by no means indicates that her writing is populated solely with algorithms or academics of various bents. In fact, given what she read on Tuesday night, I’d be surprised if a character stepped outside of the neighborhood.

Well, that’s my two cents; I look forward to reading more from her or, should it return to television, watching her on an episode of Junkyard Wars . I’ll leave the rest to you Mel.

Mel: I cannot believe you didn’t mention the bookmarks, postcards, and—get this—temporary tattoos that Bonnie Jo was handing out to the audience, all featuring the cover art from American Salvage. I am pretty excited about having a temp tattoo; it makes me feel like a badass (at least, a mediocre badass).

It’s true I tend to like whatever I read. I am usually a pretty good judge based on the spiel on the back-cover and internet reviews what I will like. Accusing me of heading up a BJC fan club has motivated me to hash out a list of books I have not liked (the few, the shamed, the legitimately bad-reads). Care to make that our next piece? Books we don’t like… Maybe we can have a fight. All of this peace and harmony between us is a bit maudlin, if you ask me.

The Mel's and Jules's Book Rap is something new we are trying out. Let us know how you liked this piece and possible books and events we can write/ talk about in the future. If we receive good feedback, we'd like to regularly co-contribute!

About Melissa LR Handa AKA Mel: Melissa LR Handa is the founder and organizer for the Ann Arbor Classics Book Group and the Lead Books Contributor for AnnArbor.com. If you would like more information or to join the group, please feel free to send an email her way, ms.ambition(at)gmail.com.

About Julia Eussen AKA Jules: Julia Eussen received her B.A. in English from Kansas State University. She is currently a graduate student in Eastern Michigan University's Professional Writing Program. She is also an assistant organizer of the Ann Arbor Classics Book Group and has recently begun to re-acquaint herself with good poetry. She can be reached at jeussen at emich dot com.