Table of (Mal)Contents Aaron Armstrong, Dave Schroeder, Scarlet Hiltibidal and friends

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 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.

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 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, 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.