Table of (Mal)Contents

We're back once again with our latest episode of Table of (mal)Contents! This week, Scarlet, Dave, and I are joined by our friend Jenaye White. Jenaye works as part of B&H Publishing Group's marketing team, where Dave previously worked as well. Now, Dave is sure that he had a plan that would involve talking about the Enneagram as much as possible as we recorded this episode on my birthday. But he failed because I was ready for it. Instead, listen in as we discuss:

• How book publicity has changed in 2020
• What new insights have been discovered in the ancient (that is, the product of the 1980s) art of the enneagram (because of course I'm going to tease about it)
• Where the influencers for books are on social media (and where do we fall on the spectrum)
• What being behind on a reading challenge means for Dave vs Aaron

And check out the cover of American Gospel, the upcoming novel by Lin Enger (and don't forget to pre-order your copy!):

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We've got a new episode of Table of (mal)Contents this week, and it's a big one—our 100th episode of the show in its current form!

And what better way for us to celebrate than to have Barnabas Piper rejoin us for our look back on 100 episodes of book recommendations,

Listen in as we discuss:

• Barnabas's wedding and how his life has improved even during a pandemic
• What books we've enjoyed that we were recommended by someone else on the show
• Our favorite conversations and guests
• The Mandela Effect
• Our favorite moments making fun of Dave

And, of course, an audience important question for Dave that will make the title of this episode make so much more sense.

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I wanted to make some sort of reference to Wayne Gretzky in this episode's title, but it wouldn't make any sense. Aside from it being the 99th episode of the podcast since we relaunched as Table of (mal)Contents.

Yes, we're really there after all this time.

But this week, we're back with mostly good mics, and joined by a friend of the podcast, Will Mitchell. Will is a teacher, longtime listener, and a lover of books, and he kindly jumped on Zoom for a weird and wonderful conversation that covers… well, pretty much everything from public health to Dave's cats. Listen in as we discuss:

• Scarlet shares her grievance with a recent editing choice
• If math teachers read math books for fun
• How many cats Dave currently has (and why he's a cat lady but Will's a cat man)
• How far we have to go if we have any hope of solving the ongoing health crises of the day
• How we can support teachers going into the new school year
• Will’s reading habits during the COVID-19 shutdown in Nashville
• Will’s choice for the (semi-retired) sucker-punch of the week

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This past week was rough on Team (mal)Contents, y'all. Scarlet's shared a bit about what's going on with her family on social media recently (so go read about it there). Dave was feeling pretty rough on Friday, so we had to postpone recording. But rather than skip this week, I decided to do something fun and introduce you to a member of the next generation of the Armstrong army: my eldest daughter Abigail.

Abigail loves reading, and she's becoming quite the writer herself, spending many hours each day working on her stories. Listen in as we discuss:

• Some of Abigail's favorite series
• What she likes reading the most
• What it's like growing up in a house full of books
• What the best and worst things about having a dad for a writer is
• What plotting a story looks like for her
• If she feels resentful about being the gatekeeper on books for her siblings

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So, we had a plan for this episode. (Maybe.) And it was a good plan, too. (Also maybe.) But then one of our co-hosts was called away unexpectedly and couldn't join us when we hit record. So, instead, Dave and I talked about a lot of things. Listen in to hear:

• Dave airs his grievance with my editing of last week's episode
• How to interpret the number of reviews of books for children on Amazon
• Three books I have bought recently
• Audiobooks Dave is trying to listen to
• Flying in a COVID-19 world
• Dave tries to convince me to care about sports
• When I'm going to maybe have finished reading The Three Body Problem and Lonesome Dove

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This week, we decided to keep things serious and tackle the tough topics that are shaping the world in which we live. Which, of course, means we're answering questions inspired by Goodreads and our friend Andy Whisenant from B&H Publishing. Listen in as we answer:

• You are traveling on a Lord of the Rings style journey. You can only take 3 characters with you that are featured in books you've read this year. Who is on your squad? 
• Describe your favorite book in the most boring way possible
• What would you name your book club? 
• This year, which book have you learned the most and why? 
• What are you reading this weekend?

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We're wrapping up our special summer series today, where each of the co-hosts jumps into the hot seat to introduce him or herself to our listeners! This time, Dave is in the hot seat—as long as his internet connection holds out. Listen in to hear:

• How Dave got into publishing (and met his lovely wife)
• How he fell in love with history books, and how many Winston Churchill biographies he's read (this week)
• One obvious publishing trope that needs to go away forever
• A few of the books that made him (and keep making him) love reading
• His pretty great idea for a pen name

Audience participation time: After every episode in this miniseries, we want you to recommend some fun (and totally appropriate) pen names for each of us. We'll share our favorites at the end of the series (if y'all participate). Share them with us on on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod.

• 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.

We're continuing our special summer series today, where each of the co-hosts jumps into the hot seat to introduce him or herself to our listeners! This time? It's my (Aaron's) turn. But there's a twist! One of us had internet problems because he was on the beach or something. So Scarlet got stuck asking me the hard questions and cringing at some of my answers. Listen in to hear:

• The epic tale of where I come from and why I started this podcast in the first place
• One of the first books I remember loving
• The difference between genres and mediums
• Some of my favorite books and a dramatic reading from one of them
• The author whose work I cannot stand
• What my pen name should be

Audience participation time: After every episode in this miniseries, we want you to recommend some fun (and totally appropriate) pen names for each of us. We'll share our favorites at the end of the series (if y'all participate). Share them with us on on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod.

• 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.

As you are no doubt aware, podcasts are always growing and changing, and new people pick up the show along the way. (At least, we hope that's happening.) So, today we're kicking off a special summer series today on the show, where each of the co-hosts jumps in the hot seat to introduce him or herself to our listeners! Listen in to hear:

• Scarlet's early life and where she's from
• The first book she remembers loving
• What Scarlet loves about reading—and why she needs to stop being worried about not reading as much as Dave or me
• Her top 5-ish books, and why she prefers only speaking positively about books
• What Scarlet's pen name should be—and if one exists already!

Audience participation time: After every episode in this miniseries, we want you to recommend some fun (and totally appropriate) pen names for each of us. We'll share our favorites at the end of the series (if y'all participate). Share them with us on on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod.

• 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.

Is social media the worst, or are we? What if the answer is yes? Our friend Chris Martin joins us to talk about all things social media and give us the inside track on his upcoming book on the subject on this episode. Listen in as we discuss:

• What social media does to people's brains
• Why social media actually isn't morally neutral
• How Neil Postman speaks to the effects of social media despite writing more than 20 years before it became part of our lives
• Which algorithm is more sinister: Facebook's or everyone else's?

Also, Dave and Chris talks about baseball for a long time at the beginning of this episode. So if you don't care, just skip the first 5 minutes or so. But you will miss out on Scarlet and I griping about it, so…

• 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.