Best of the Bunch (November 2023)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in November.

It was a very busy month for me, which translated to a light reading month. I finished five books total and didn't have any 5-star or 4.5-star reads. I did have three 4-star reads, which interestingly were all nonfiction:

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

Loving Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder: How to Keep Out-of-Control Emotions from Destroying Your Relationship by Shari Y. Manning

This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something--Anything--Like Your Life Depends On It by Tabitha Carvan

One of these could have arguably been 4.5 stars if I'd been feeling more generous, so I'm going to make that my Best of the Bunch!

Cultish was an interesting read, ably narrated on audio by Ann Marie Gideon. Montell first looks at groups that are universally described as "cults" to determine what factors make them such, and especially what different forms of language are used to draw people in and keep them there. Then she looks into other parts of culture that have been described as "cults," from MLMs to fitness studios to social media influencers, and shows the ways in which their use of language and its ultimate impact do or do not mimic those of "real" cults. I especially appreciated how she looked into the research on who is most susceptible to joining a cult (or cult-ish group of any kind) and dispelled some of the mythology there. I think the book could have benefited from a central thesis outside of "Here are some patterns about cults and here's where else they show up," but it was engaging, and I feel like I learned quite a bit!

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Swallows and Amazons, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, The Bean Trees, and Dragons Never Die
Five years ago I was reading: Born a Crime
Ten years ago I was reading: Roots and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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