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

Updated Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, at 10:35 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 end 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.

October 2009

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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")

Sebastian Silva's The Maid
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "The Maid")

Chris Rock's Good Hair
Recommended by Dana Stevens in "Straight Talk")

Lone Scherfig's An Education
(Recommended by Dana Stevens in "An Education")

Kristopher Belman's More Than a Game
(Recommended by Josh Levin in "Self-Love and Basketball")

Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland
(Recommended by Josh Levin in "Naked Female Zombies Running in Slow Motion")

The Coen Brothers' A Serious Man
Recommended by Dana Stevens in "A Serious Man")

Music

Chris Brown's I Can Transform Ya
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "New Single")

Creed's Greatest Hits
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "Creed Is Good")

Paramore's Brand New Eyes
(Recommended by Jonah Weiner in "Fall in Love With Paramore")

Bob Dylan's Christmas in the Heart
(Recommended by Jody Rosen in "I Dreamed I Saw St. Nicholas: Why Bob Dylan's Christmas Album Isn't a Joke")

Brad Paisley's American Saturday Night.
(Recommended by Jody Rosen in "The Culture Gabfest: The Flying Circus Edition")

Kings of Convenience's Declaration of Dependence
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: The Flying Circus Edition")

Richard Thompson's "Beeswing"
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: The Damage Control Edition")

Television

The League
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "The League")

Lock 'N Load
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "Lock 'N Load")

The Good Wife
(Recommended by Troy Patterson in "The Good Wife")

The Larry Sanders Show
(Recommended by Stephen Metcalf in "The Culture Gabfest: Bombard Me With Phenomes Edition")

On the Road With Charles Kuralt
(Recommended by Seth Stevenson in "On the Road Again")

Technology

Microsoft's Windows 7
(Recommended by Farhad Manjoo in "Get Windows 7")

Tune-identifying app Shazam
(Recommended by Farhad Manjoo in "That Tune, Named"

Other

Yamaha's AvantGrand Digital Piano
(Recommended by Chris Wilson in "Roll Over, Beethoven")

Fage Yogurt
(Recommended by Nathan Heller in "Yoplaited Out")

Vintage Hondas
(Recommended by Tim Wu in "The Cult of the Vintage Hondas")

September 2009

Books

James Davidson's The Greeks and Greek Love
(Recommended by Emily Wilson in "Ancient Greek Lessons About Gay Marriage")

William Trevor's Love and Summer
(Recommended by Judith Shulevitz in "The Encumbrance of Things Past")

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky
(Recommended by Johann Hari in "Where Have All the Women Gone?")

Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs
(Recommended by Claire Dederer in "What Nanny Knew")

Ben Winters and Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
(Recommended by Ben Winters in "This Scene Could Really Use a Man-Eating Jellyfish")

Popular Mechanics' 100 Skills Every Guy Should Know
(Recommended by Matthew Schneier in "Mr. Manners")

Sarah Schulman's Ties That Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences
(Recommended by June Thomas in "The Culture Gabfest: Teen Beat Edition")

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