There are certain books so good they can only be described as transcendent. Others are cultural phenomena, but are best described as… well, you'll find out as we discuss The Notebook.

That's right—all three of us have finally (mostly) read this book, and today, Barnabas, Dave, and I are talking about our experience in the most PG-12 episode of the show yet. Listen in as we discuss:

• Why Nicholas Sparks is one of the worst famous writers any of us have ever read
• What the movie would be like if Ryan Gosling's and Rachel McAdams' characters were played by ordinary looking actors instead of beautiful ones
• If we should read books with good romance
• The unhealthy expectations books like The Notebook create about relationships, marriage and sex
• Our dramatic readings of random passages of the book
• A better phrase than "dumpster fire"

Thanks to our friends at Lagares Coffee Roaster for partnering with us to make the Table of (mal)Contents blend. Order all the bags you can handle today.

Today's bonus content and challenge:

Read: "'The Notebook' is a dumpster fire and I didn't realize it 15 years ago" by Carly Mellenbaum

Your Challenge: If you read and really loved The Notebook, tell us why by tagging @malContentsPod on Twitter. We'll share our favorites on an upcoming episode and send you a book by one of us that we guarantee is better than The Notebook.

As always, be sure to leave a creative and entertaining 5-star review on Apple Podcasts—one that we can't help but read on the air! And, if you have a question for us to answer on a future episode of the show, call our hotline at 615-538-7473 and leave us a message.

A few of the books we mention on this episode:

Keeper by Greg Rucka

Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth

The Pioneers by David McCullough

Detective Comics #1000: The Deluxe Edition by Peter Tomasi, Brian Michael Bendis, Scott Snyder, Jim Lee, et al.

Sharing and supporting the show

• Leave a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. This only takes a second and will go a long way to helping other people find the show.
• If you know someone who would benefit from listening, share the show on your favorite social media network.
• Give us a follow on Twitter at @malContentsPod

We use affiliate links from Amazon to help us pay for the costs of producing and hosting the podcast. Be sure to purchase a book or ten that we talk about on every episode.

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