Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I'm Mike - this is Riff Raff's Reading Renaissance. Welcome!
Today I'm doing The Hounds of Love Book Tag, a wonderful BookTube tag inspired by Kate Bush's iconic album Hounds of Love. Thanks to Aaron @AaronReadABook for creating the tag and to Gareth @bookssongsandothermagic for tagging me. Here are their respective videos:
Aaron - youtube.com/watch?v=PCPJPRAswVQ
Gareth - youtube.com/watch?v=DzYn-hcAfCg&t=152s
In this video I answer twelve literary prompts inspired by songs from the album, discussing books ranging from classic literature and contemporary fiction to history, memoir, science fiction, and non-fiction.
📚 Books Mentioned:
• Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
• Ulysses - James Joyce
• War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
• Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
• In Search of Lost Time - Marcel Proust
• Bear - Marian Engel
• Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Portnoy's Complaint = Philip Roth
• Bedtime Stories for Stressed-Out Adults - Lucy Mangan (editor)
• Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
• Macbeth - Jo Nesbo (after William Shakespeare)
• The Coming Storm - Odd Arne Westad
• Politically Correct Bedtime Stories - James Finn Garner
• The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K Le Guin
• The Spy and the Traitor - Ben MacIntyre
• Bleak House - Charles Dickens
• Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton
• Electric Eden - Rob Young
If you enjoy BookTube tags, classic literature, literary fiction, science fiction, non-fiction recommendations, and discussions about reading, I'd love for you to subscribe and join the conversation.
QUESTIONs: Which prompt would you answer differently? What would your answer be for the Hounds of Love prompts?
I'd especially love to know:
📚 A book featuring a memorable four-legged friend
📚 A genuinely hopeful book
📚 A book not set on Earth
And of course, are you a Kate Bush fan? What's your favourite song?
Timestamps / Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:23 #1 Ron Swanson's Dick & Frasier's Favourites
03:37 #2 A four legged “friend” (Bear)
05:05 #3 A “Big Sky” book (Infinite Jest)
06:31 #4 Killing Mockingbirds
07:32 #5 Cloudbusting Portnoy’s Complaint
08:51 #6 Wordsworth Dreams of Sleep & Sheep
11:13 #7 Frozen Fromme from Edith Wharton
12:34 #8 Inspector Macbeth Wakes the Witches
14:18 #9 Nightmareish Non-Fiction Future
15:25 #10 The Jig of Life – Politically Correct Laughter
18:04 #11 Hello (Left Handed) Earth
19:14 #12a Ben MacIntyre Rescues Russians
20:39 #12b No one does “Fog” like Dickens
22:06 #12c Mrs Burton goes Disco Dancing
23:43 #12d Kate Bush’s Electric Eden
26:57 Final Thoughts
And for the almighty algorithm:
#BookTube #KateBush #HoundsOfLove #BookTag #BookRecommendations #ClassicLiterature #tagtuesday
I'm Mike - this is Riff Raff's Reading Renaissance. Welcome!
Today I'm doing The Hounds of Love Book Tag, a wonderful BookTube tag inspired by Kate Bush's iconic album Hounds of Love. Thanks to Aaron @AaronReadABook for creating the tag and to Gareth @bookssongsandothermagic for tagging me. Here are their respective videos:
Aaron - youtube.com/watch?v=PCPJPRAswVQ
Gareth - youtube.com/watch?v=DzYn-hcAfCg&t=152s
In this video I answer twelve literary prompts inspired by songs from the album, discussing books ranging from classic literature and contemporary fiction to history, memoir, science fiction, and non-fiction.
📚 Books Mentioned:
• Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
• Ulysses - James Joyce
• War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
• Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
• In Search of Lost Time - Marcel Proust
• Bear - Marian Engel
• Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Portnoy's Complaint = Philip Roth
• Bedtime Stories for Stressed-Out Adults - Lucy Mangan (editor)
• Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
• Macbeth - Jo Nesbo (after William Shakespeare)
• The Coming Storm - Odd Arne Westad
• Politically Correct Bedtime Stories - James Finn Garner
• The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K Le Guin
• The Spy and the Traitor - Ben MacIntyre
• Bleak House - Charles Dickens
• Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton
• Electric Eden - Rob Young
If you enjoy BookTube tags, classic literature, literary fiction, science fiction, non-fiction recommendations, and discussions about reading, I'd love for you to subscribe and join the conversation.
QUESTIONs: Which prompt would you answer differently? What would your answer be for the Hounds of Love prompts?
I'd especially love to know:
📚 A book featuring a memorable four-legged friend
📚 A genuinely hopeful book
📚 A book not set on Earth
And of course, are you a Kate Bush fan? What's your favourite song?
Timestamps / Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:23 #1 Ron Swanson's Dick & Frasier's Favourites
03:37 #2 A four legged “friend” (Bear)
05:05 #3 A “Big Sky” book (Infinite Jest)
06:31 #4 Killing Mockingbirds
07:32 #5 Cloudbusting Portnoy’s Complaint
08:51 #6 Wordsworth Dreams of Sleep & Sheep
11:13 #7 Frozen Fromme from Edith Wharton
12:34 #8 Inspector Macbeth Wakes the Witches
14:18 #9 Nightmareish Non-Fiction Future
15:25 #10 The Jig of Life – Politically Correct Laughter
18:04 #11 Hello (Left Handed) Earth
19:14 #12a Ben MacIntyre Rescues Russians
20:39 #12b No one does “Fog” like Dickens
22:06 #12c Mrs Burton goes Disco Dancing
23:43 #12d Kate Bush’s Electric Eden
26:57 Final Thoughts
And for the almighty algorithm:
#BookTube #KateBush #HoundsOfLove #BookTag #BookRecommendations #ClassicLiterature #tagtuesday
