Why do they always kill the dog, cats, and Nic Cage ruins everything

By • 2 minutes of reading • Podcast

Dave’s daughter was recently traumatized when she read Where the Red Fern Grows, and we got to thinking: why the heck to teachers keep asking kids to read this book? Listen in as we discuss:

  • Why Dave’s still not sleeping and the Legend of Winston
  • What we think about this seemingly psychotic habit of authors writing books where the dog always dies
  • Why there’s no “the cat dies” genre and if there are any cats that are heroes in books
  • Why there’s a no-pets rule in the Armstrong house
  • What book adaptations would Nicolas Cage completely ruin by starring in (thanks Judson for recommending this topic)
  • Which director(s) ruined Superman

Apple Podcasts Google Play Spotify Stitcher

A few of the books we mention on this episode:

  • [easyazon_link identifier=”0440412676″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]Where the Red Fern Grows[/easyazon_link] by Wilson Rawls
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”B002JXB8D4″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]Old Yeller[/easyazon_link] by Fred Gipson
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”0689846231″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]The Yearling[/easyazon_link] by Marjorie Kinan Rawlings
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”B008XCM18Q” locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]The Bourne Identity[/easyazon_link] by Robert Ludlum
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”1573225517″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]High Fidelity[/easyazon_link] by Nick Hornby
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”1328948854″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]The Princess Bride[/easyazon_link] by William Goldman
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”B00DKW6HF2″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]Black Klansman[/easyazon_link] by Ron Stallworth
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”0345517067″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]Stan Musial: An American Life[/easyazon_link] by George Vecsey
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”0143125478″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]The Boys in the Boat[/easyazon_link] by Daniel James Brown
  • [easyazon_link identifier=”0316422738″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”strongarm-20″]Lethal White[/easyazon_link] by Robert Galbraith

This week’s bonus content:

The trailer for the documentary, “The Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened?”

And for the image that made Barnabas laugh so hard:

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.
  • Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let’s talk via email or DM @malContentsPod on Twitter.

Scroll to Top