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. Be sure to spread the good news and congratulate all the winners by getting copies of their books using the links below.

The Categories

Books by someone we know

• Hoping for Happiness by Barnabas Piper (Aaron)
• A Voice Within The Flame by Henry O. Arnold (Dave)
• Iron Lake by Kent Krueger (also Dave)
• Sick of Me by Whitney Capps (Scarlet)

Books by someone we know and like

• Echo Island by Jared Wilson (Aaron)
• Hoping for Happiness by Barnabas Piper (Dave & Scarlet)

Books other people love but we gave up on

• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Aaron)
• North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson (Dave—who stresses that this is only due to competing priorities)
• Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (Scarlet)

Books that made us laugh out loud

• So, Anyway… by John Cleese (Aaron)
• Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyn (Dave)
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (also Dave)
• Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld (Scarlet)

Books that made us feel feelings

• This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (Aaron)
• Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (also Aaron)
• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (Dave)
• The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby (also Dave)
• The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis (Scarlet)

Books that surprised us

• Death Without Company by Craig Johnson (Aaron)
• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer (Dave)
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (Scarlet)
• Remember God by Annie F. Downs (also Scarlet)

Books with pictures

• Superman: Up in the Sky by Tom King and Andy Kubert (Aaron)
• The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson (Dave)
• But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton (Scarlet)

Books we learned from

• Range by David Epstein (Aaron)
• Love Your Enemies by Arthur C. Brooks (also Aaron)
• The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt (Dave)
• Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien
• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk MD (Scarlet)

Books we haven’t finished yet but really enjoy

• American Gospel by Lin Enger (Aaron)
• A Promised Land by Barack Obama (also Aaron)
• A Time for Mercy by John Grisham (Dave)
• Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (Scarlet)