Slate critics and columnists often recommend all sorts of useful and fascinating stuff: books, documentaries, albums, television shows, new gadgets, and the like. Sometimes these endorsements appear in obvious spots (like our movie reviews), but just as often, they come in unexpected places, like in a "Dear Prudence" or "Fighting Words" column. So at the start of every month, we publish a handy roundup of all the things we like, since we figure you'd like some of these things, too. Take a look at our latest favorites, and remember you can purchase SlateT-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise at the Slatestore.

May 2010

Books

Annie Cohen-Solal's Leo & His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli
(Recommended by Eric Banks in "The Art Dealer of the Century")

Everyman's Library edition of The Stories of Ray Bradbury
(Recommended by Nathaniel Rich in "Mythologist of Our Age")

Simon Johnson and James Kwak's 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Bigger Explosions, Smaller Laughs' Edition")

Matt Debenham's The Book of Right and Wrong
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Chung Chung' Edition")

Pauline Kael's I Lost It at the Movies
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Chung Chung' Edition")

Charles Harper's Birds and Words
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest, 'First Ever Live Gabfest' Edition")

Marion Meade's Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney
(Recommended by Nathan Heller in "Nathanael West's Secret")

Milton Rokeach's The Three Christs of Ypsilanti
(Recommended by Vaughan Bell in "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus")

Movies

Thomas Balmès' Babies
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Babies!")

Ken Loach's Looking for Eric
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Ken Loach's Looking for Eric")

Kevin Asch's Holy Rollers
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in " Holy Rollers")

Alejandro Amenábar's Agora
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Alejandro Amenábar's Agora")

Shane Meadow's  This Is England
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest 'Optimization of Selfhood' Edition")

Michael Curtiz's The Adventures of Robin Hood
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Bigger Explosions, Smaller Laughs' Edition")

Roman Coppola's CQ
(Recommended by Jody Rosen in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Chung Chung' Edition")

Television

Daria: The Complete Animated Series
(Recommended by Reihan Salam in "Daria")

Music

David Cope's From Darkness, Light
(Recommended by Chris Wilson in "I'll Be Bach")

Giuseppe Tartini's The Devil's Sonata, performed by Andrew Manze
(Recommended by Jody Rosen in "The Culture Gabfest, 'The First Ever Live Gabfest' Edition")

The music of Hank Jones
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, 'The First Ever Live Gabfest' Edition")

Miscellaneous

Berlin's Film Museum
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Optimization of Selfhood' Edition")

The Arnold Arboretum
(Recommended by Julia Turner "The Culture Gabfest, 'Optimization of Selfhood' Edition")

KCRW's weekly radio show and podcast The Business
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Bigger Explosions, Smaller Laughs' Edition")

March 2010

Books

Ian McEwan's Solar
(Recommended by Adam Kirsch in "The Slippery Scientist")

Ira Berlin's The Making of African America
(Recommended by Jacqueline Jones in "Black Like Whom?")

Diane Ravitch's The Death and Life of the Great American School System
(Recommended by Sara Mosle in "Facing Up to Our Ignorance")

Martha Nussbaum's From Disgust to Humanity
(Recommended by Dahlia Lithwick in "Why Has a Divided America Taken Gay Rights Seriously?")

Paul Berman's The Flight of the Intellectuals
(Recommended by Ron Rosenbaum in "Bonfire of the Intellectuals")

Attica Locke's Black Water Rising
(Recommended by Political Gabfest listener Tayari Jones in "A Matter of Faith Gabfest")

Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
(Recommended by Political Gabfest listener Joshua Leach in "The 'We're All Headed for Tyranny' Gabfest")

Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale
(Recommended by Political Gabfest listener Steve Flynn in "The Tickle Fight Gabfest")

Robert Graves' I, Claudius
(Recommended by Political Gabfest listener MaryClaire King in "The Live From New York Gabfest")

Stephen King's Under the Dome
(Recommended by Political Gabfest listener Bridget Braney in "The Crazy as a Loon Gabfest")

David Foster Wallace's essay Tense Present
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest, #1 Record Edition")

Yves Smith's ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Busby Berkeley Dreams' Edition")

Michael O'Brien's Mrs. Adams in Winter
(Recommended by Christine Stansell in "Mrs. Adams' Big Adventure")

Movies

Noah Baumbach's Greenberg
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Bitter Focker")

Bong Joon-Ho's Mother
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Take This Bong Hit")

Leo McCarey's Make Way for Tomorrow
(Recommended by Jessica Winter in "Make Way for Tomorrow")

Television

Dancing With the Stars
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Dancing With the Stars")

Walker, Texas Ranger: The Complete Series Pack
(Recommended by Mason Currey in "The Complete Walker, Texas Ranger")

Secret Diary of a Call Girl
(Recommended by June Thomas in "The Culture Gabfest, 'This Is Event Programming, Dammit' Edition")

Music

Pavement's Quarantine the Past
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Pavement's Greatest Hits")

Joanna Newsom's Have One on Me
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "Joanna Newsom Would Like Your Undivided Attention")

The soundtrack to the Chet Baker documentary Let's Get Lost
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest, 'This Is Event Programming, Dammit' Edition")

Lucinda Williams' "Words"
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Warbly Strangly' Edition")

Rough Trade Shops: Indiepop
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, 'Warbly Strangly' Edition")

Misc

Built Gourmet Getaway Lunch Tote
(Recommended by Julia Felsenthal in "A Moveable Feast")

February 2010

Books
Amy Bloom's Where the God of Love Hangs Out
(Recommended by Claire Dederer in "How To Make Characters Lovable")

Barbara Demick's Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
(Recommended by John Delury in "When North Korea Fell Out of the World")

Randi Hutter Epstein's Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth From the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank
(Recommended by Liza Mundy in "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Childbirth …")

Zachary Mason's The Lost Books of the Odyssey
(Recommended by John Swansburg in "Literature's First Unreliable Narrator")

Elif Batuman's The Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
(Recommended by Adam Kirsch in "A Comedian in the Academy")

Sam Lipsyte's The Ask
(Recommended Michael Agger in "The Best Microbrewer of Bitterness")

The works of Georges Simenon
(Recommended by Jody Rosen in "The Culture Gabfest: We're Saving Our Own Lives Edition")

Mark Ovenden's Transit Maps of the World
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: We're Saving Our Own Lives Edition")

Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest: We Have No Pants Edition")

Don DeLillo's Great Jones Street
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: We Have No Pants Edition")

C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed
(Recommended by Meghan O'Rourke in "The Culture Gabfest: Mourning in America Edition")

Judith Shulevitz's The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time
(Recommended by Hanna Rosin in "DoubleX Gabfest: The Bond Girl Edition")

Valerie Martin's The Confessions of Edward Day
(Recommended by Margaret Talbot in "DoubleX Gabfest: The Bond Girl Edition")

Jim Bouton's Ball Four
(Recommended by Josh Levin in "Hang Up and Listen, the Tebow vs. ManCrunch Edition")

Ozzy Osbourne's I Am Ozzy
(Recommended by James Parker in "Ozzy Does It")

Movies
Julian Jarrold's, James Marsh's, and Anand Tucker's Red Riding trilogy
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Red Riding Trilogy")

Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in " The Ghost Writer")

Breck Eisner's The Crazies
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in " The Crazies")

Pedro Almódovar's Broken Embraces
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Oscar Nominations: Cameron vs. Bigelow, and Other Exciting Cage Matches")

Jane Campion's Bright Star
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Oscar Nominations: Did Wes Anderson Get Shafted by Oscar?")

Armando Iannucci's In the Loop
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Meet the Crotchman Edition")

Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy (Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero)
(Recommended by Nathaniel Rich in "The War Trilogy")

Paul Michael Glaser's The Cutting Edge
(Recommended by Torie Bosch in "How To Make a Better Figure-Skating Movie")          

Music
Ozzy Osbourne's Black Rain
(Recommended by James Parker in "Ozzy Does It")

The music of Nicki Minaj
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "Who's That Girl?")

The soundtracks to Crazy Heart, Adventureland, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest: Meet the Crotchman Edition")

St. Vincent's Actor
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Meet the Crotchman Edition")

Fleetwood Mac performing "Tusk" with the USC marching band
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "The Culture Gabfest: Mourning in America Edition")

Television
Undercover Boss
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in " Undercover Boss")

The work of Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "The Fox on Fox")

Dollhouse
(Recommended by Seth Stevenson in "Another Joss Whedon World Ends")

Craig Ferguson's interview of Stephen Fry on CBS's Late Late Show
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Ferguson and Fry Rock Late Night by Having Actual Conversation")

Judd Apatow's 2001 sitcom Undeclared
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: We're Saving Our Own Lives Edition")

Real Housewives of Orange County
(Recommended by Jessica Grose in "DoubleX Gabfest: The Bond Girl Edition")

Technology

Grocery Zen's iPhone shopping app
(Recommended by Sara Dickerman in "A Moveable Feast")

The Google Chrome Web browser
(Recommended by Farhad Manjoo in "The Best Web Browser on the Planet")

Other

Fentimans botanically brewed ginger beer
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: Meet the Crotchman Edition")

The Fresh Air interview with actor Jason Segel
(Recommended by Jody Rosen in "The Culture Gabfest: We're Saving Our Own Lives Edition")

The sinus-cleansing neti pot
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: We're Saving Our Own Lives Edition")

New York magazine's Valentine's special Q&A with married actors Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: We Have No Pants Edition")

Thomas Hardy's series of love poems written after the loss of his wife, Emma
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Mourning in America Edition")

January 2010

Books
Joshua Ferris' The Unnamed
(Recommended by Juliet Lapidos in "The Curse of the Open Road")

Louis Menand's The Marketplace of Ideas
(Recommended by Gideon Lewis-Kraus in "The Opening of the Academic Mind")

James Hansen's Storms of My Grandchildren
(Recommended by Johann Hari in "NASA's Prophet Will Give You Nightmares")

James Salter's Solo Faces
(Recommended by Michael Agger in "Such Great Heights")

Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes
(Recommended by Ron Rosenbaum in "Outsource the CIA to Downsized Reporters")

Carl Wilson's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "If I Don't Write a Good Business Plan My Child Will Die")           

Bill Carter's The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Conan Should Have Seen It Coming")

Robert B. Parker's The Spenser Series
(Recommended by Emily Bazelon in "Remembering Robert B. Parker: Why I Love Susan Silverman (and Spenser Too)"

Gjertrud Schnackenberg's poem "Darwin in 1881" from her collection The Lamplit Answer (Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, the Origin of Speciousness Edition")

Vikram Seth's Golden Gate
(Recommended by June Thomas in "The Culture Gabfest, the Golden Globalization Edition")

Ted Sorenson's Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History
(Recommended by listener R.J. Bee in "The Political Gabfest, the Yearning for the Clarity of George Bush Gabfest")

Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys
(Recommended by listener Gary Vandiver in "The Political Gabfest, the He's No Bobby Kennedy Gabfest")

Alfred Lansing's Endurance
(Recommended by listener Diane Cochran in "The Political Gabfest: The Road to Salvation Gabfest")

Jack Gantos' Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
(Recommended by Emily Bazelon in "The Political Gabfest, the Road to Salvation Gabfest")

Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles
(Recommended by Emily Bazelon in "The Political Gabfest, the Road to Salvation Gabfest")

Music
Jay-Z's "On to the Next One"
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "Hova goes MoMA")

M.I.A.'s "Space Odyssey"
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "Track of the Week: M.I.A.'s 'Space Odyssey' ")

The late Kate McGarrigle and her sister Anna's version of the folk song "Gentle Annie"
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest, the Golden Globalization Edition")

Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, I've Got Ten Cartridges of Toner in My Pants Edition")

Marvin Gaye's rendition of the "National Anthem" at the 1983 NBA All Star Game
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, I've Got Ten Cartridges of Toner in My Pants Edition")

The Wonderful World of Jazz
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest, the Scary Bunny Edition")

Movies
The movies of Eric Rohmer
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Appeal of an Eric Rohmer Film")

Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Fish Tank")

Tom Vaughan's Extraordinary Measures
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "If I Don't Write a Good Business Plan My Child Will Die")           

Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor's Sweetgrass
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "I Want a Range Life")

Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "The Culture Gabfest, the Golden Globalization Edition")

Michael Ritchie's Downhill Racer
(Recommended by Michael Agger in "Such Great Heights")

Television
Brace for Impact
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing")

Archer
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Jack Bauer Needs To Use the Bathroom")

Be Good Johnny Weir
(Recommended by Torie Bosch in "The Life of a Male Figure Skater")

Charlie Rose's interviews with Dolly Parton, Meryl Streep, and Helen Mirren on Audible
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest, the Scary Bunny Edition")

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