Table of (Mal)Contents

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 ab...

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 Le...

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 th...

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 St...

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...

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 we...

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 event...

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 unreali...

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. B...

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 Ap...

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, includ...

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 sever...

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 on...

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...

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...

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 reco...

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 booklis...

We typically don't talk a ton about Bible reading on the podcast. Not because we don't care about it (because obviously we do), but because we typically assume that our Christian listeners are actively doing so. However, that's not always a safe assumption to make, especially when we see how rampant biblical illiteracy has become. So this week, we are joined by Tara-Leigh Cobble, host of The Bible...

It's been a week. Read into that whatever you wish, and you're probably going to be correct. We could all use a little bit of happiness (I know I could), so this week, Scarlet, Dave, and I are joined once again by our good friend Barnabas Piper, to celebrate the official release of his brand-new book, Hoping for Happiness , available now wherever books are sold. Listen in as we discuss: Barnabas'...

Fall—or rather, Autumn—is finally here! With it comes cardigans, superfluous scarves, and pumpkin spice, as well as thinking about what to read in this new season. Listen in to discuss: What makes a book an "Autumn book" Scarlet and Dave test my knowledge of Canadian geography Where the idea from this episode came from Pronouncing "Autumn" fancy The role of nostalgia in seasonal reading Rereads an...

So, the trailer for the Dune movie was released last week, and the folks who made it clearly did a great job. In honor of this, we're getting extra nerdy as we talk Dune , sci-fi, and Dave having meetings to run to. Listen in to hear: The difference between hard and soft sci-fi If Dune is a good option for jumping into the genre How ET ruined sci-fi for Scarlet If speculative fiction counts as sci...

We're back with a new episode, recorded on a life-changing date for most of the modern world. But that doesn't stop us from getting downright silly at times as we talk about books, history, and pet clothing. Listen in to hear: Where we were on 9/11 Whether or not we have (or should) read books about the event Why it's probably not a good idea to be writing books about our current circumstances jus...

We don't always have friends of the podcast on the show, but when we do, it's Matt Redmond! Matt is a Christian counselor, teacher, author, and longtime listener of the podcast. We have wanted to chat with Matt for a while because of our shared love of books, C.S. Lewis, music, and more. Listen in as we discuss: What's so great about Jane Austen Why Matt isn't a fan of the enneagram Books you shou...

One of the things we love best about this show is our audience. Seriously, we have some really fun and fantastic people who listen to this show and put up with our silliness week in and week out. So, this week, Dave and I (Scarlet couldn't join us this week due to scheduling issues) thought it would be fun to answer some of your questions! Listen in as we discuss: Our preferences in coffee and/or...