Artwork for podcast Table of (Mal)Contents
Present and Accounted For
Episode 14221st November 2025 • Table of (Mal)Contents • Aaron Armstrong
00:00:00 01:01:08

Share Episode

Shownotes

It seems like only yesterday that we released our latest episode… or was it? We really don't know anymore. But what we do know is that Dave and Aaron are here with another episode of Table of (mal)Contents. Watch and listen as we discuss two incredible celebrity biographies and memoirs, Lorne by Susan Morrison and The Uncool by Cameron Crowe. Also in this episode:

  • Our ranking of the best Cameron Crowe movies
  • The problem with sequels to Mike Myers movies
  • What we were reading when we recorded this episode

All this, and the return of a favorite segment, the Jack Reacher Sucker Punch of the Week™, in which Aaron calls out a certain type of writer.

Get the books discussed (affiliate links):

  • Lorne by Susan Morrison: https://amzn.to/48rL86Y
  • The Uncool by Cameron Crowe: https://amzn.to/48w8ojh
  • Faith Simplified by Aaron Armstrong: https://amzn.to/4ia064Z

Follow

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube

More Episodes
142. Present and Accounted For
01:01:08
141. Maybe a Year, Maybe Yesterday
01:00:04
bonus Your Next Favorite Book: Faith, Hope, and Carnage
00:20:45
140. bonus I'm a Christian—Now What? A Q&A at Landmark Booksellers
00:45:38
bonus Introducing Your Next Favorite Book
00:01:44
bonus A Very (mal)Contented Christmas
00:46:48
bonus Introducing: Wildwood Flower Season 2
00:00:57
bonus Introducing: Feel For the Game, Season 2
00:01:46
bonus Introducing: Wildwood Flower
00:01:12
139. The Trial Separation
00:31:44
138. Sitting at the Top of the Christian Publishing World
00:47:32
137. Feeling the Randomness
00:38:46
Breaking Reading Slumps and Books that Keep Us Up At Night
00:41:37
Why Dave Can't Stop Talking About the End of the World (on World Book Day)
00:33:47
134. When Sports Books Aren't About Sports
00:27:57
133. Hemingway, Returning to Conference Bookstores, Canada's Ken Burns
00:46:51
132. Celebrating Beverly Clearly
00:30:31
131. bonus Special Announcements & Questionable Timing
00:25:00
130. Mourning McMurtry
00:30:31
129. Identity Crisis-ish
00:40:03
128. Too Christian and Not Christian Enough
00:59:35
127. End Times Prophesying, Fathers & Sons, and Basic Reading Comprehension
01:12:42
126. #ComicBookClub
01:05:13
125. Storytelling vs Culture Warriors
01:02:07
124. Haircuts, Heresy, & Hockey Fights
00:54:14
123. "It's Not Me, It's You (Two)"
00:48:28
bonus Introducing: No Chill Enneagram: Watch Party
00:02:42
122. Not At All Controversial Opinions
00:42:59
121. Funny Book Titles, Failure, & More Books with Pictures
00:41:38
120. Survival Stories, Poor Choices, & Lukewarm Receptions
00:52:35
119. Organizing Bookshelves, Positive Boosts in Book Sales, & Purely Hypothetical Publishing Decisions
00:53:23
118. Planning Our Reading Plans for 2021
00:48:39
bonus Introducing: We Wonder: Advent
00:03:07
117. The 2020 (mal)Contents Book Awards!
00:54:03
116. bonus School Libraries and Mermaids in the Time of COVID-19
00:20:33
115. The Art of Audiobook Narration
00:50:36
114. Prog Rock, Christmas Persecution, & Christmas Seminary
01:04:49
113. Yes, Christians Can Write Good Fiction Too
00:45:30
112. All the Tenuous Connections
00:52:34
111. A (Thankfully) Short Talk About Being Thankful
00:28:37
110. Spooky Season, Christmas, & Mormons at the Door
00:46:13
109. Politics, Reading Lists, & Other Dinner Conversations
00:50:46
108. Science Faction, Ezekiel, Apollos, & English Class Confessions
00:59:49
107. Finding Happiness & Failing to Finish Sentences
00:55:56
106. Having None of It in Nunavut
00:38:09
105. Pocket Protectors, Activate!
00:34:59
104. Audience Questions, 9/11, & Drastic Tonal Shifts
00:44:23
103. Bach, Bono & Music Bios
00:58:00
102. Masters of Tangents
00:39:54
101. Influencers of Influencers
00:47:45
100. Cat Fashion Shows
01:12:00
99. It's All Dave's Fault (and Other True Sayings)
00:51:48
98. The Writer's Kid
00:27:17
97. The One Where We Keep Not Talking About Books
00:33:46
96. Quest Squads, Book Club Names, & Boring Book Descriptions
00:41:04
95. Dave vs the Internet Connection
00:36:16
94. Scarlet vs the Canadian
00:30:21
30. 5 Questions for Scarlet
00:30:03
29. Social Media is Bad For You
00:51:05
28. The Nicolas Cage of Podcasts
01:01:58
26. A Conversation on Learning About Other People’s Experiences
00:39:50
25. Pet Advice, Dave’s Deflection, & SWAT Team Rabbits
01:24:59
24. Hope, Happiness, & Lunch Shovels
01:05:45
23. American History Pop Quiz, Hot Shot!
00:50:09
22. The YA Grab Bag of Surprise!
00:53:27
21. Concentric Circles of Canadian Hatred
00:50:05
20. Reading in the Time of Quarantine, Losing Literacy, & Favorite Reading Spots
00:59:35
19. Real Celebrities, Diet Ice Cream, & How We Speak Online
01:20:07
18. Scarlet the Benevolent Dictator
00:46:44
17. Virus Punching, Proverbs, & Being C.S. Lewis-ish
01:10:14
16. bonus Big News, Deserted Islands, & the Many Ways to Spell Charlotte
00:50:41
16. Social distancing's toll, new projects, & sucker-punching 2020
00:38:30
15. Episode titles, writing advice, & what’s bad for bookstores
00:53:19
14. bonus Social Distancing, Post-Apocalyptic Nightmares, & the Special Handling List
00:40:48
Advance Memoirs, Nick Cage’s Pyramid Tomb, & Recording Around Landscaping
00:52:23
12. Sincerity, Awkwardness, & Some Reasonably Big News
00:38:05
11. The Mechanics of Mystery Stories, Minnesotan Authors, & Holden Caulfield
00:48:52
10. Criticism & Community, Side Hustles, and the Power of Moments
01:01:57
9. Half-Canadians, Fluid Language, & the Uniqueness of American Christianity
00:55:54
8. Super Bowls, Anna Karenina, & Cries for Help
00:54:18
7. UFOs, Scary Stories, & J.J. Abrams
00:45:14
6. Libraries, weird publishing stories, & Eastern Orthodoxy
01:03:07
5. bonus Boys in a Bookstore Wearing Microphones
00:34:11
4. Weird Manliness Book Trends, John Eldredge, & Fairy Tales
00:41:42
3. Saints and Scoundrels, Women's Bible Studies, & Teleconferencing Guests
00:56:29
2. Becoming an Author, Endorsing a Book vs a Person, & the Story You Need to Tell
00:52:13
1. Misunderstood Authors, Tom Clancy, and the Wendell Berry Jar
00:45:57
63. The Talk
00:25:47
62. Our Best Books We Read For Our Enjoyment in 2019
00:35:29
The One With All The Swearing
00:46:50
60. bonus We're Thankful For That Time We Talked to Leif Enger
00:52:17
59. Poetry & Plumbing, Good Illustrations, and a Defense of Leadership Books
01:05:29
58. Hutchmoot, Life Changes, & a New eBook
00:39:20
57. bonus Pyramid schemes, trolling literary people, & marginalia
00:37:14
56. What Women Really Want…
00:53:11
55. Sensitive Subject Matter, Bad Book Covers, & Audiobook Narration
01:03:50
54. Dentistry vs Writing, Teaching International Students, & a New Definition of Procrastination
00:57:15
53. Neighborhood Library Boxes, Balanced Diets, & Leadership Book or Captain Picard
01:16:14
52. Workshopping Gladwell Book Titles, Talking to Strangers, & Middle School Bullies
00:59:54
51. When Reading Got Fun, How Not to Impress Girls, & What Not to Read During Class
01:37:49
50. Creeping on Wendell Berry, coffee talk, & why physical books are best
00:48:07
49. Destroying Books, Writing Tell-Alls, and Our Favorite International Authors
00:39:59
Pat Conroy, Loving Yourself Appropriately, & (mal)Contents vs Gut Check
01:05:08
Great westerns, frustrating sci-fi tropes, & capturing the creative imagination
00:59:56
46. Midlife Crises, Ordinary Lives, and #Chafey
01:17:47
45. Our favorite sidekicks, the first books in our book clubs, & 3-word descriptions
00:33:59
44. Should we reject books by authors who rejected the faith?
00:34:39
43. Historical fiction, splitting hairs, and honoring an American icon
00:45:49
42. The Sewage Blaze
00:51:54
41. What made us want to write, imitating others, and the spectrum of writers
01:28:23
40. bonus Christian vacation reads, movie references, & Aaron is boring
00:35:43
39. Bias in biographies, sucker punching as a family, & owning #40Dave
00:51:30
38. Being Terrible at Patriotism, Canada vs America, & Barnabas vs Avocado Toast
00:46:06
37. Book conventions, cat poetry, & Amazon vs humans
00:43:11
36. "A story has to be true to be beautiful and good"
01:43:14
35. bonus Buying vs borrowing books, loving the library, & being part of the problem
00:20:04
34. Summer reading, getting fatter & happier, and what not to read on vacation
00:36:21
33. The Writer’s Process, Writing Like You Speak, and Coldplay vs Dave Matthews
01:15:35
32. Questioning questionable content, preachy fiction, and James Bond
00:42:15
31. Wiping books out of existence, organizing our libraries, & hurtful words
00:48:45
30. Proposing to propose, taking chances, and the problem of how-to-books
00:57:07
29. Short books, getting self-promo-y, & enjoying Spring
00:47:35
Writing a bestseller, social contracts, & reading Annie Dillard
01:21:21
27. Nostalgia, mindless reading, and untapped holidays
00:55:45
26. "Moby Dick is the reason I went into British literature"
00:44:18
25. Online reading groups, platform-building, and pronouncing "against"
00:34:09
24. Good biographies vs bad ones, the Tolkien movie, and Canadian coffee
00:55:26
23. Personality types and fictional characters, and books for every Enneagram type
00:57:58
22. Personality profiles, the Enneagram, and Chicken Dave Schroeder
00:49:51
21. Leaders are Readers, But They’re Not If…
00:52:33
20. 3-Word Descriptions, Retitling Books, and Keeping People from Reading Bad Books
00:33:52
19. Advice for aspiring authors, avoiding comparisons, when not to write
00:49:33
18. How we read so much, cat-rants, and Dave’s new nickname
00:39:19
17. Why do they always kill the dog, cats, and Nic Cage ruins everything
00:35:13
16. Relationship issues, marriage books, and fur babies
00:25:20
15. Books that make you laugh, having dinner with authors, and why we don’t loan books
00:55:10
14. Do humble C- - - - -ists exist, contract reveals revisited, and pronouncing GIF
00:58:53