HOME / slate fare: The inner workings of Slate.

The Slate EndorsementsBooks, music, movies, and other stuff Slate writers liked last month.

Updated Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009, at 11:38 AM ET

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 a "Dear Prudence" or "Fighting Words" column. So at the start of every month, we'll be publishing 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 Slate T-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise at the Slate store.

November 2009

RSS

Books

Joan Biskupic's American Original
(Recommended by Emily Bazelon in "The Alienator")

Gail Collins' When Everything Changed
(Recommended by Katha Pollitt in "The Real Secret of Feminism")

Konstantin Pleshakov's There Is No Freedom Without Bread
(Recommended by Anne Applebaum in "1989 and All That")

Jennifer Burns' Goddess of the Market and Anne Heller's Ayn Rand and the World She Made
(Recommended by Johann Hari in "How Ayn Rand Became an American Icon")

Nicholas Humphrey's Seeing Red
(Recommended by Ron Rosenbaum in "The Dangerous Mysteries of Consciousness")

Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach
(Recommended by James Parker in "Outfoxed")

Kinsley Amis's Lucky Jim
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Cute vs. Evil Edition")

Ian McEwan's Black Dogs
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Cute vs. Evil Edition")

Masha Gessen's Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century
(Recommended by June Thomas in "The Culture Gabfest: Tangled Up in Yule Edition")

Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: Tangled Up in Yule Edition")

Movies

Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans")

The Twilight Saga: New Moon
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon")

Roland Emmerich's 2012
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "It's the End of the World as We Know It")

Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Fantastic Mr. Fox")

Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Scrooge 3.0")

The documentary New York Doll
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Plutonium Blonde Edition")

Music

Cecilia Bartoli's Sacrificium
(Recommended by Jan Swafford in "Nature's Rejects")

Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Notes Toward a Close Reading of the New Lady Gaga Video")

Jamie's Foxx's "Speak French"
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "Track of the Week: Jamie Foxx ft. Gucci Mane, 'Speak French' ")

Yeasayer's "Ambling Alp"
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner and Jody Rosen in "Track of the Week: Yeasayer's 'Ambling Alp' ")

Patricia Highsmith's novel-turned-film The American Friend
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Good Breeding Edition")

The soundtrack to the Wes Anderson movie Rushmore
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest: Good Breeding Edition")

Television

Glee
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "I Love Glee")

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Slouching Towards St. Louis"

Modern Family
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: Good Breeding Edition")

Parks and Recreation
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: Cute vs. Evil Edition")

Bones
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: Plutonium Blonde Edition")

Other

Big Boggle, the old-school 5x5 version
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: Good Breeding Edition")

October 2009

Books

Jeffrey L. Sheler's Prophet of Purpose
(Recommended by Alan Wolfe in "Riding God's Wave")

Donald Kagan's Thucydides: The Reinvention of History
(Recommended by Anthony Grafton in "Did Thucydides Really Tell the Truth?")

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby
(Recommended by Juliet Lapidos in "Survivalist Fairy Tales")

Frans de Waal's The Age of Empathy
(Recommended by Christine Kenneally in "How Nice Are We?")

Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Culture Gabfest: Bombard Me With Phenomes Edition")

Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8
(Recommended by Julia Turner in "The Culture Gabfest: Bombard Me With Phenomes Edition")

William Langewiesche's The Outlaw Sea
(Recommended by Jody Rosen in "The Culture Gabfest: Bombard Me With Phenomes Edition")

Robert Weinstock's Food Hates You Too and Other Poems
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: The I'll Eat You Up Edition")

Movies

Kenny Ortega's This Is It
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Last Moonwalk")

Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 2
(Recommended by Grady Hendrix in "Jaa Rules")

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 SINGLE PAGE