Table of (Mal)Contents

So, we had a plan for this episode. We were going to have some fun talking through some decent questions Goodreads has been posting lately. But instead… well, you'll have to listen to what exactly happened this week.

Because none of us are entirely sure. But we did have a lot of fun as we discussed:

• Nicolas Cage's method of acting
• Dave's unexpected trip to the ER (and pro-tips for getting to the front of the line)
• Real bacon vs turkey "bacon"
• Aaron butchering the pronunciation of a Nigerian author's name
• Books that have affected us over the past few months

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So with everything that's happening in the world recently, we decided to talk together about books we've read that have helped us explore the experiences of others. Specifically, the experiences of African Americans.

This conversation was, honestly, a pretty awkward one for us to have since none of us are African American, and we didn't want it to be perceived as "three white people helping you understand the African American experience."

That's not how we roll, and it's not something any of us are qualified to do anyway. Instead, we're sharing about books we've read and advice we've been given that have been helpful in our desire to be good learners and good neighbors in our community. In this episode you'll hear:

• A few of the books we've found helpful so far
• Reading recommendations from our listeners
• Why it's important not just to read about the African American experience, but to read good African American authors

As promised in the episode, here are a couple of articles we found particularly helpful in processing the events of the last three weeks:

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Recently it looked like we were maybe hopefully getting toward a happier and healthier place in this pandemic. The sun was shining, stores were opening… and well, 2020 keeps happening. But we're not talking about terribly serious stuff on this episode because it was recorded before 2020 got even worse. Maybe we'll get serious and talk about some of that next week. We'll see. But in the meantime, we do talk about some pretty fun and hopefully life-giving subjects, including:

• What it was like to go back into a bookstore for the first time
• When Scarlet’s going to start writing her rabbit book
• We workshop a new kids book (and it gets weird)
• Whether or not we should do a live show someday

We've got a couple of activities for y'all:

• Share a photo of you in or outside your favorite bookstore and tag @malcontentspod on Twitter and Instagram
• If it ever becomes safe to do so, should we host a live recording—and would you come?

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So, many weeks ago, back in the long forgotten times when people socialized together and we recorded our podcast in-person, and before Scarlet teamed up with us to class up this show and keep it firmly in the mostly-family-friendly radio space, there was another co-host.

But his life got too busy with a new job, his other show, and a book deadline, so he had to say goodbye to his regular gig here. It took us—especially Dave—some time, but we healed. So, today, Barnabas joins us on the show to catch up!

Listen in as we discuss:

• What we should really call endorsement requests
• If Scarlet is becoming a weird pet person
• Writing in normal times vs in the time of social distancing
• Why Dave should read an advance copy of Barnabas' new book
• What Scarlet might like about westerns (even if she probably won't read them)
• The category of books Barnabas wants to sucker punch

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As you all know, Dave loves history (almost as much as he loves cats). And because I am a Canadian, he and Scarlet both wanted to help me learn more about American history, in the hopes that I can someday pass a citizenship test. So, we thought, why not have Thomas Kidd join us to help with both?

Listen in as we discuss:

• Is there really more that can be said about some of these well-known historical figures?
• Why we need to be careful to not read back in our views and context into the past
• Why he is (and we all should be) fascinated by the biblicism of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin
• Great modern history writers
• A book Scarlet is endorsing
• And, of course, whether Dr. Kidd enjoys the West Wing

Thomas S. Kidd teaches history at Baylor University, and is Associate Director of Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion. Dr. Kidd writes at the Evangelical History blog at The Gospel Coalition. He also regularly contributes for outlets such as WORLD Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. His recent books include Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father; George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father; and Baptists in America: A History, with co-author Barry Hankins. 

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Recently I discovered that McKay's, our favorite second-hand bookstore, has been offering themed grab bags of books to help people stay on top of their reading during this season.

So, of course, I bought one—and it was 100% YA fiction.

But what kind of YA fiction was it? You'll find out as Scarlet, Dave and I discuss:

• When we can record in person again
• Which books from our bag seem like they're worth reading
• If our McKay's bag accurately reflects Nicholas Cage's career choices
• Dave prepping for the apocalypse
• The hot mess of Aaron's (abandoned) quaranbeard
• Our reflections on talking about Canada for 30 minutes last week
• How James Patterson could possibly write as much as he does (completely out of jealousy)

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Two countries unite on today's episode of the show as Drew Dyck joins us for a chat about being Canadians in Americaland, Canadian geography, and life on the interwebs. For those not in the know, Drew Dyck is an acquisitions editor at Moody Publishers, an author, and a fellow Canadian. Listen in as we discuss:

• What Drew loves best about the online world right now
• What's the worst thing online right now
• Fun Canadian city names
• Why everyone hates Toronto
• If Canada would be a good place to be in a post-apocalyptic wasteland
• The right name for an anchor baby
• Tom Holland vs Tom Holland

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As we continue to trudge through this season of social distancing and everyone sheltering at home, we're all finding it to be a struggle to do some of our favorite things. Y'know, like reading. So today, Karen Swallow Prior—one of our favorite guests from 2019—makes a return visit to the show to talk about reading habits, binge-watching, and generally class up the program.

Listen in as we discuss:

• Which female literary characters men should make a point of studying
• Why it's hard to read in high-stress situations
• How we can overcome losing the art of deep, uninterrupted reading
• Why "TL;DR" is the worst
• Why Karen started her new B&H classic literature series with Sense and Sensibility and Heart of Darkness

All this, plus a few listener questions! (Thanks Joe Waller and Richard Harbison!)

Karen Swallow Prior is the author of On Reading Well and has been a Professor of Literature at Liberty University and will be transitioning to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fall 2020. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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We're back with a brand-new episode, and we've brought a friend along! Daniel Darling joins us to talk about some nice, easy subjects including politics, online discussion, and the nature of celebrity. Listen in as we discuss:

• The difference between being Christian famous and actually famous
• Why we need to be wise with how we speak online
• The continued debate over retiring the sucker punch
• Becoming a writer before social media
• Scarlet's plan to go back to school
• Diet ice cream and parenting techniques

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We're back with a brand-new episode, in which Scarlet takes over as our benevolent dictator (she wanted me to call her our benign dictator, but I can't do it). Listen in as we discuss:

• The myth of extra time
• Giving books as gifts
• If giving a book as a gift has ever backfired on us
• When and why to quit reading a book
• If we've ever quit books that were convicting and/or offensive
• How many Churchill biographies Dave has read

By the way, this week, we changed our category listing for the show. Let us know if you see it change!

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