Table Of (mal)contents

Every organization, church, blog, and even podcast can succumb to mission drift if its identity is not continually being clarified. So today, much like Derek Zoolander did when he saw his reflection in a puddle, we're getting a little introspective on the show and asking the question, "Who am I?" Listen in as we discuss: What we're really all about—and who are we really trying to be Why our faith can't not be a part of the show (even when we rarely discuss books connected to our faith) Carrying conversations when we're having a bad day Dave's thoughts as he's finally reading A Man Called Ove A few of the books mentioned on this episode: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders 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 p

One of the creative cohorts & publishing companies Dave and Aaron both love is The Rabbit Room, for many different reasons, not the least of which being the people running it. So this week, Dave and Aaron are joined by none other than Pete Peterson, its executive director and managing editor. Listen in as we discuss: The story of The Rabbit Room The publishing philosophy of "do less better" The challenges of reading for pleasure when working in publishing The feedback Pete—and his brother Andrew—has received because of the content of his books Why it can be challenging for some authors to be too Christian and not Christian enough How Pete quit smoking A few of the books mentioned on this episode: Every Moment Holy Vol. 1, and the forthcoming Every Moment Holy Vol 2 by Douglas McKelvey The Fiddler's Gun and Fiddler's Green (the Fin's Revolution series) by Pete Peterson (Though really, get these direct from The Rabbit Room store—it's a great way to support them directly!)Sharing and supporting the show L

Dave and Aaron are excited to one of our favorite authors, Lin Enger, join us on the podcast this week for an outstanding chat about… well, pretty much everything. (In fact, we were having such a good time that we completely forgot the time and went about 20 minutes over—and you get to reap the benefits of it!)Listen in as we discuss: The recurring themes of religion, sacrifice, forgiveness, and father-son dynamics in Lin's writing The importance of place to storytelling What does Lin need to teach students about writing The danger of over-editing The relationship between end-times prophesying and the weird climate in which we find ourselves today Books written by Lin Enger: Undiscovered Country The High Divide American Gospel Comeback: A Gun Pederson Novel (co-authored with Leif Enger) 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 aff

The day has finally arrived—Dave and I are talking about reading Undiscovered Country volume 1 by Charles Soule and Scott Snyder, which is his first time reading a graphic novel! But to make it extra fun, we decided to invite along a longtime listener, and extremely rare Zoomer, Deb Wampler to join in the conversation with us, for a good old fashioned Comic Book Club.Listen in as we discuss: How to read a graphic novel Different formats genres of graphic novels Whether we should have had Dave ease in with something a little easier (like Batman: The Long Halloween) What the experience of reading a graphic novel is like for someone who hasn't done it before If Dave and Deb are going to read Undiscovered Country volume 2 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 hostin

Dave and Aaron are joined by Russ Ramsey for a conversation about art, pastoring in a pandemic, and why we can't stop banging the drum on reading fiction.Listen in as we discuss: The results of the Dave's haircut poll How pastoring in a pandemic has affected Russ' reading The multiple-time guest jacket Why culture warriors should tell stories instead Does Calvin & Hobbes count as a graphic novel? When we might be doing the discussion of Undiscovered Country Some breaking news in the life of Russ Ramsey! A few of the books we mentioned: Norco '80 by Peter Houlahan A Contract with God by Will Eisner Maus by Art Spiegelman Art & Faith by Matoko Fujimura The War of Art by Steven Pressfield 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. Interes

Dave and Aaron are joined by friend and former coworker Brandon Smith for a fun conversation about the Church Fathers, Batman, and the revolving door of heresy.Listen in as we discuss: How Christianity actually had faithful teachers before the Reformation What Batman graphic novels are good ones to read for a first-timer If there's such a thing as new heresy The only part of hockey Aaron talks about Should Dave take his hair all the way down, or keep working with what he's got A few of the books we mentioned: Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale Batman by Tom King Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller Batman: Year One by Frank Miller & David Mazzuchelli 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 s

Dave, Scarlet, and Aaron are joined by former co-host/recurring guest Barnabas Piper to talk about… well, you'll just have to listen to hear.Listen in as we discuss: Dave's feelings on the graphic novel our listeners chose for him to read The dedication of Scarlet's next book How much we don't know about copyright law and fair use doctrine as it applies to music 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.

Check out another show on the Area Code Network, No Chill Enneagram: Watch Party:We can't stop talking about the enneagram, so we started a podcast to get it all out of our system. No Chill Enneagram: Watch Party is a safe space for ennegram and pop culture fanatics. Each week, pop culture expert, Richard Clark, and enneagram expert, Bethany Perkins watch a movie or tv show and talk about it through the lens of the enneagram.

Dave & Aaron are back on Zoom talking about all kinds of not-at-all controversial subjects. As one does when on a Zoom call with a microphone. Instead, we talked current events, Star Wars, stock markets, and books.Listen in as we discuss: The winning book in our graphic novel reading challenge Whether the president should have a job title The opening scene of the inevitable book about Wall Street Bets (and future film starring Nicolas Cage) Being inspired to read again How to rank the Disney-era Star Wars films so far A few of the books we mentioned on this episode Undiscovered Country by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, et al. The Hardest Job in the World by John Dickerson My Last Name by Eric Schumacher In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson 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 link

Recently I (Aaron) went to the local Dollar General and was confronted with the most ridiculous book title I've seen in a long time. So naturally, I sent a picture to Dave and Scarlet, to which Dave immediately suggested that we talk about this on the show! So, with Scarlet out this week, that's what we did. And it was as silly and amazing as you would hope.Listen in as we discuss: Our favorites from a list of silly book titles we can't share (there are some that would definitely cross the line of the "don't get fired rule," so…) My vetting failure before making recommendations on graphic novels last week New graphic novel options for Dave to (maybe) read After last week's encouraging poll, we're back at it with another, which will go live sometime on Monday on Twitter. This one will, hopefully, be one that helps point Dave in a direction on which graphic novel he's going to try.A few of the books we mentioned on this episode Undiscovered Country by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, et al. Birthright Vol 1: Home

We're back at it this week, discussing all the latest and greatest in our lives (reading, writing, and otherwise), including a possible near-death experience!Listen in as we discuss: Scarlet's tales of adventure over the Christmas break My first stab at the graphic novel reading challenge options My incredible progress on my reading challenge for the year Reading dry spells and ultimatums This week, we're kicking off a Twitter poll for you all to help us in this quest to find the right graphic novel for the team to read together. But there's just one problem: none of the books on our list are going to make the final cut because of a second review for content issues. So, we're back to square one. But hopefully the poll will be helpful, so check it out on Twitter.A few of the books we mentioned on this episode Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire Sentient by Jeff Lemire & Gabriel Hernandez Walta The Big Book of Barry Ween, Boy Genius by Judd Winick Forward cur

We're kicking off the new year in style—although sadly sans Scarlet—as we talk about all kinds of wild and crazy things that have happened in the last week or so.Listen in as we discuss: Whether or not a publisher has the right to cancel a contract and why they might How we feel about the events of this past week Ideas for how to organize our bookshelves Teasers for a few upcoming items and events that we hope we can share more about in the future A few of the books we mentioned on this episode Big Truths Bible Storybook (available for preorder) American Gospel by Lin Enger A Promised Land by Barack Obama Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier Outlander by Diana Gabaldon Clanlands by Sam Heughan & Graham McTavish CSB Every Day With Jesus Daily Bible 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 hel

Just as the end of the year brings with it scores of end-of-year book lists, so too does it bring a bevy of plans for how to make this next year the best year ever! Whether it's choosing a theme word (something I'm pretty sure none of us on this show has done), planning to read the Bible 37 times in a year, or reading 1,000,000 books, we often come up with goals and plans that are entirely unrealistic, and suck the joy out of life.So we thought we'd talk about plans that can make us happier, healthier readers.Listen in as we discuss: What we're thinking about in terms of how we want to be reading in 2021 How many books Scarlet's going to read this coming year The problem with Goodreads' Reading Challenge, despite us all using it The next big shared reading plan for the three of us 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

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 CategoriesBooks 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 on

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

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

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 Wh

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