Table of (Mal)Contents

Check out another show on the Area Code Network, We Wonder: Advent. The podcast where we wonder together about the story of God. We Wonder is a contemplative devotional for children. Find our more here: wewonderpod.com

It's that time of year where every website, podcast, and Twitter-er is spreading holiday cheer with annual favorite book lists. And, as good friends to our listeners and lovers of books, how could we leave you all hanging without sharing our favorites of the year? And so, we present you the inaugural (mal)Contents Book Awards, with categories carefully selected to suit our… unique sensibilities. Be sure to spread the good news and congratulate all the winners by getting copies of their books using the links below. The Categories Books by someone we know Hoping for Happiness by Barnabas Piper (Aaron) A Voice Within The Flame by Henry O. Arnold (Dave) Iron Lake by Kent Krueger (also Dave) Sick of Me by Whitney Capps (Scarlet) Books by someone we know and like Echo Island by Jared Wilson (Aaron) Hoping for Happiness by Barnabas Piper (Dave & Scarlet) Books other people love but we gave up on Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Aaron) North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson (Dave—who stresses that this is only due to competing priorities) Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (Scarlet) Books that made us laugh out loud So, Anyway… by John Cleese (Aaron) Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyn (Dave) Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (also Dave) Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld (Scarlet) Books that made us feel feelings This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (Aaron) Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (also Aaron) Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (Dave) The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby (also Dave) The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis (Scarlet) Books that surprised us Death Without Company by Craig Johnson (Aaron) The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer (Dave) The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (Scarlet) Remember God by Annie F. Downs (also Scarlet) Books with pictures Superman: Up in the Sky by Tom King and Andy Kubert (Aaron) The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson (Dave) But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton (Scarlet) Books we learned from Range by David Epstein (Aaron) Love Your Enemies by Arthur C. Brooks (also Aaron) The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt (Dave) Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk MD (Scarlet) Books we haven’t finished yet but really enjoy American Gospel by Lin Enger (Aaron) A Promised Land by Barack Obama (also Aaron) A Time for Mercy by John Grisham (Dave) Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (Scarlet)

By popular demand, we've got a brand new bonus episode for you all this week as Abigail Armstrong returns to the show for a quick dad to big kid chat about bad parenting advice, public school, how to get books out of libraries under the COVID-19 protocols, and whether or not cursing in our writing is a good idea. Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

What makes or breaks an audiobook? Almost as important as the content itself is the narrator. These often unsung heroes of the medium are the people who keep you coming back time and again, carrying the ideas of this or that author into your ears. One of those narrators is Henry O. Arnold (or as his family calls him, Chip). Henry is a stage actor, writer, and narrator of over 40 audiobooks, including all of John Maxwell's books, Yawning at Tigers by Drew Dyck, and Boundaries by Henry Cloud. He is also the author of a new historical fiction book, A Voice Within the Flame. Listen in as we discuss: How being a stage actor makes Henry a better writer The value of biblical fiction What it takes to read an audiobook well How Aaron's boss is treating Aaron And, of course, we share a little of what we're reading. A few of the books mentioned on the show The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk MD No One Asked For This by Cazzie David A Promised Land by Barack Obama The Next to Last Stand by Craig Johnson Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

We're about to enter into that special time of year that is full of holiday cheer, and so we are going to try to celebrate it well here on the podcast. But in order to really kick it off well, we felt the best way to do it was to ask the man who loves Christmas more than anyone else to join us for the conversation. This week, Ronnie Martin, pastor at Substance Church, author and co-author of several books, and the co-host of The Happy Rant Podcast and The Art of Pastoring, joins us to talk all things merry and bright. Listen in as we discuss: The question Aaron's been saving for Ronnie for more than a year When is the appropriate time to start celebrating Christmas (and for how long) How to pronounce "accreditation" The best Christmas books and authors Ronnie's favorite type of Christmas persecution Defining what makes a Christmas movie (and why they only make superhero movies) The start of a grassroots campaign to get Ronnie's future festive book, The Christmas Tree Farm, published The godfather of Christmas stories A few of the books mentioned on the show The Best Gift Ever Given by Ronnie Martin The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk MD Every Moment Holy by McKelvey Davis No One Asked For This by Cazzie David A Promised Land by Barack Obama Batman: The Three Jokers by Geoff Johns & Jason Fabok A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien A Wild Winter Swan by Gregory Maguire Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

Okay, I'll admit: when I see the words "Christian" and "fiction" together, I generally assume the book with that label will be terrible. But that is also totally unfair of me, because while there is a lot of bad fiction written by and for Christian audiences, there are are also really good books that can fall under this label. And our friend Jared Wilson, author of many, many books, has written one of them that's out now called Echo Island. Jared joined Dave and me (while Scarlet was reading the book on a plane) to talk about storytelling, Vermont, and the good news that this is not a Rapture book. Listen in as we discuss: Why Jared wanted to write this story Why we can't actually talk about the book too much without giving away pretty much the whole plot The honesty of New Englanders about their faith (or lack thereof) Why calling Echo Island a good book isn't a throwaway compliment How fiction help your imagination as a writer and as a reader The relationship between storytelling and close-up magic Why people who are jaded or cynical toward Christian fiction (or fiction by Christians) should give this book a shot Echo Island is available now through your favorite bookseller. Get a copy for yourself Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Be sure to use the Amazon affiliate links above to help us pay for the costs of producing and hosting the show. Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

Sometimes a conversation is full of… how can I say this? Tenuous connections. Abrupt changes of topic, subject matter, and tone is often the way a real-life conversation goes. And this week, Dave and I are joined by our friends Nick Rynerson and Richard Clark to talk about, well, pretty much everything—including their new podcast network, Area Code. Listen in as we discuss: Conspiracy theories and the power of the word "Consider" to make anything sound sinister Finding the Dark Web What is the Area Code Network and why are we talking about it on our show? Why Nick needs to read our meeting requests How good a job I'm doing at being my own executive assistant A few of the books we mentioned on this episode Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Weather by Jenny Offill Make Russia Great Again by Christopher Buckley Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier Sell Montana by Steve Gilreath Lipstick Traces by Greil Marcus The Varieties of Religious Experiences by William James The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer Privilege the Text by Abraham Kuruvilla Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Be sure to use the Amazon affiliate links above to help us pay for the costs of producing and hosting the show. Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

We're two days past Halloween, which means two things: higher blood sugar for all, and stores have become winter wonderlands overnight. But we don't want to be grumpy about it—instead, we're reclaiming the season, standing in the gap as it were, and choosing to be thankful. About what? Well, a few things as you'll hear in this episode. Listen in as we discuss: Who we're thankful for that helped us to develop a love of reading Aerosmith and the possibility of an asteroid hitting Earth on Wednesday Some friends who are going to be joining us on the show in the next few weeks Scarlet caring for a doglet All that and a few other teases in a whopping 28 minute show! A few of the books we mentioned on this episode Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyn Echo Island by Jared Wilson Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Be sure to use the Amazon affiliate links above to help us pay for the costs of producing and hosting the show. Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

It's almost Halloween, and we're talking… well, we're talking Christmas, apparently. But not intentionally. Dave wanted to talk about Halloween and spooky books, but we don't really read those all that often. We don't even watch those movies. So, instead we have some fun talking through some listener questions! Listen in as we discuss: What happened when Mormons came to the door while we were recording If Scarlet and her girls have read Bunnicula What books we read around Christmas times Unexpected Christmas books from unlikely authors How we feel about book clubs (a longer discussion can and should be listened to here) The Christmas songs that annoy me (Aaron) the most All this and a whole bunch of apologies from… well, you'll see. A few of the books we mentioned on this episode Bunnicula by James Howe Skipping Christmas by John Grisham The 19th Christmas by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro The Christmas Train by David Baldacci The Expected One by Scott James A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyn Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Wait for Signs by Craig Johnson Echo Island by Jared Wilson Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Be sure to use the Amazon affiliate links above to help us pay for the costs of producing and hosting the show. Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

There are two topics you traditionally don't bring up at family dinners over the holidays: religion and politics. (Scarlet, meanwhile, is glad she missed out on this one.) The spectrum of types of political books and the weirdness of that part of the publishing industry John Quincy Adams being a terrible president and a great congressman What conservatism means Why the Great American Reads booklist is problematic If changing your Good Reads Reading Challenge is cheating (it's not and Dave is wrong) A Lonesome Dove update All this and a whole bunch of apologies from… well, you'll see. A few of the books we mentioned on this episode The Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger Decision Points by George W. Bush The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris The Politics of Prudence by Russell Kirk A Grief Observed, The Great Divorce, and Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Be sure to use the Amazon affiliate links above to help us pay for the costs of producing and hosting the show. Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.