A: To Answer Your Business Research, Job Search or Sales Lead Questions

The Washington Business Journal’s annual Book of Lists uses reliable sources  in real estate, banking and finance, tech and media, and much more to survey, compile and rank metro-DC area companies. 

Metrics used to create the top rankings include revenue, profits, salaries, number of employees, deal values and even square feet.

Top lists include:

• Bioscience employers
• Corporate philanthropists, by giving and volunteer hours
• Fastest-growing companies
• Healthiest employers
• Interior design firms
• Lobbying firms
• Meeting and banquet facilities
• Most-admired CEOs
• Restaurant groups, locally based
• Security companies
• Wealthiest ZIP codes
• Women-owned businesses

Visit our Ask-A-Librarian/Reference Desk on the second floor at Central Library to browse the most recent issue, or visit the Magazine/Computer Help desk for the previous three years. Older issues are in the Center for Local History, on the first floor.

 

What useful information have you found in The Washington Business Journal’s Book of Lists?

 

Start Quoting Him Now…

Or at least take his 450th birthday as a chance to learn more about his life, his work, and some of the many people he inspired – in good, bad and bloody ways:

And check out our Childrens Librarians’ post on Five Great Books for Introducing Kids to Shakespeare, too.

 

How to Read and Understand Shakespeare
audio lecture by professor Marc C. Conner

Build the skills to deeply comprehend Shakespeares transcendent poetic language, the spellbinding world of his great characters and stories, and his revelatory reflections on human experience.

 
Kiss Me Kate
DVD [1953]

In this film based on the play by Samuel and Bella Spewack, two squabbling, mid-20th-century ex-marrieds are cast as squabbling Renaissance romantics in a musical version of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” The stars fight it out on stage and off, and two mob goons sing about wooing women with Shakespeare.

 

 

The Most  Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: A Play by William Shakespeare
adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds

There are many excellent adaptations of R&J, but this is one of the most effective in translating the story for teens. Hinds makes the characters of African, Indian, and Caucasian descent in order to promote the universality of the story. The language is abridged but not adapted into contemporary English; footnotes explain words that could be confusing to young audiences. The use of lines and colorful watercolors is striking, especially when illustrating action such as dancing and sword fights.

 

 

Shakespeare and the American Musical
by Irene G. Dash

Dash argues that adaptations of Shakespeare were instrumental in the alteration of the musical theater formula from the stock plots and song forms of the 1930s musical comedy to the more organic “integrated musical,” where songs and dance sequences were used to advance the plot rather than break the action, as seen in “The Boys from Syracuse,” “Kiss Me Kate,” “West Side Story” and others.

 

 

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)
DVD [2003]

The three-man troupe perform all of Shakespeare’s plays in 90 comedic minutes. Forwards and backwards! Seriously funny.

 

 

 

The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios
by Eric Rasmussen

Rasmussen and his team of researchers were part of the global quest to catalog every extant copy of the 1623 First Folio. The team’s mission: to examine every surviving copy, and to track down the missing ones. Researchers study one with a bullet encased inside, attempt to determine whether blood or red paint stains another, document murders most foul, and explore the “dead within two years” fate that has befallen many folio owners.

 

 

Kill Shakespeare
by Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col; art by Andy Belanger

When Hamlet’s ship is attacked by pirates, he escapes and is found by Richard III, who tells him that he is the one prophesied to free Richard’s people from the tyranny of the wizard (or perhaps god) called William Shakespeare. But Hamlet soon discovers that another faction, led by the rebel Juliet and her lieutenant Othello, worships Shakespeare and believes that the chosen one will bring Shakespeare out of seclusion to reinvigorate the land.

 

 

Shakespeare Uncovered
DVD [2013]

Six episodes combine history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis, and the personal passion of their celebrated hosts (Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, Trevor Nunn, Joely Richardson, and David Tennant) to tell the story behind the stories of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

 

 

 

Loving Will Shakespeare
by Carolyn Meyer

In Stratford-upon-Avon in the sixteenth century, Anne Hathaway suffers her stepmother’s cruelty and yearns for love and escape, finally finding it in the arms of a boy she has grown up with, William Shakespeare.

 

 

 

Shakespeare Wallah
DVD [1965]

The real-life adventures of a traveling theater group in India during the final days of English colonial rule. They try to uphold British tradition by staging Shakespearean plays but can’t compete with the wildly popular Bollywood film industry.

 

 

The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly
by Doug Stewart

William-Henry Ireland earned his footnote in literary history in the 1790s by crafting a series of forged letters, documents, and manuscripts all by or about William Shakespeare. In doing so he fooled many of England’s literary and other notables at a a time when literacy was rising in England, the gossip-filled newspaper business was booming, and the country was hungry for any artifact connected to the Bard.

 

 

Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire
by Eileen Blumenthal and Julie Taymor

Surveys Taymor’s innovative work using puppetry, masks, and dance movement in her theater, opera and film productions including “The Tempest,” “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Titus Andronicus.”

 

 

What’s your favorite film about Thanksgiving?

 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles
[1987]

An uptight businessman faces disaster after disaster as he tries to get back home in time for his family’s Thanksgiving dinner, and along the way is joined by an insane traveling salesman who will not leave him alone.

 

 

Hannah and Her Sisters
[1986]

A look at three sisters and the relationship they have with one another, and with the men in their lives.

 

 

 

Avalon
[1990]

The story of several generations of a family, from the arrival of Jewish immigrant Sam Krichinsky in the suburb of Baltimore called Avalon, down through his children and grandchildren. The family goes from poverty to prosperity as the world changes around them, but their love and humor hold the family together.

 

 

The Ice Storm
[1997]

Thanksgiving 1973. The climate is changing, both politically and physically. As the Watergate scandal unfolds in the background, the inhabitants of a small Connecticut town begin to slip into an existentialist void. Social taboos are shattered on whims and the line between adult authority and juvenile irresponsibility is practically nonexistant. When a self-centered husband’s relationships with his wife and mistress grow cold, it takes a wife-swapping ‘key party’ and a freak ice storm to clear the air – and change their lives forever.

 

Home for the Holidays
[2002]

A single mother looses her job and travels home to spend Thanksgiving with her family all on the same day.

 

 

 

Brush up on your French, practice your Chinese, polish your Spanish or strengthen your Arabic!

Whether you turn the subtitles on or off, pause, rewind, or play it again and again, these movies offer great stories – as well as the chance to explore another culture along with another language:

 

The Swimsuit Issue
Swedish [2011]

A botched prank gives Frank, a divorced dad, the idea to mold his motley buddies into Sweden’s only all-male synchronized swimming team. Mayhem ensues as they strive for the World Cup finals in Berlin.

 

 

The Girl Who Played With Fire
Swedish [2010]

The second installment in Steig Larssen’s trilogy. On the eve of publisher Mikael Blomkvist’s story about sex trafficking between Eastern Europe and Sweden, two investigating reporters are murdered.

 

 

Amelie
French [2002]

Amélie, a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood, didn’t attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination. She has a whimsical, romantic nature, taking it upon herself in adulthood to step into the lives of others around her to help them out.

 

 

Queen to Play
French [2011]

Lovely, repressed, and quietly intelligent, French chambermaid Helene comes upon a couple engaged in an intense chess match, and discovers she has a knack for the game. This becomes an obsession, much to the chagrin of her husband and teenage daughter. She seeks the clandestine tutelage of a reclusive American doctor, a liaison that radically transforms both of their lackluster lives.

 

Like Stars on Earth
Hindi [2010]

Eight-year-old Ishaan can’t seem to get anything right in class and gets into more trouble than is parents can handle. They pack him off to boarding school where his art teacher, Nikumbh, realizes that something is wrong and sets out to discover what it is.

 

 

Guzaarish
Hindi [2011]

Ethan Mascarenhas is one of the greatest magicians of his time. Presently hosting a radio show that spreads magic, hope, and laughter through his wit and humor, it is hard to imagine that he has been immobilized with a spinal injury for the last 14 years.

 

 

Eat Drink Man Woman
Chinese [1994]

A retired master chef and widower is worried about the future of his three unmarried daughters who are skeptical about marriage. Yet he himself surprises them with his secret love affair with a young woman many years his junior.

 

 

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Chinese [2002]

Set in the early 1970s during the later stages of China’s Cultural Revolution, two city-bred teenage best friends are sent to a backward mountainous region for Maoist re-education.

 

The Motorcycle Diaries
Spanish [2005]

An inspirational adventure, based on the true story of Ernesto Guevara and Alberto Granado, whose thrilling and dangerous road trip across Latin America becomes a life-changing journey of self-discovery.

 

 

All About My Mother/Todo Sobre Mi Madre
Spanish [1999]

Manuela is the perfect mother. A hard-working nurse, she’s built a comfortable life for herself and her teenage son. But when tragedy strikes and her son is killed in a car accident, her world crumbles.

 

 

Under the Bombs/Sous les Bombes
Arabic [2007]

“During a cease-fire in the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006, Tony, a Christian taxi-driver, brings Zeina, a Shiite woman from Beirut, to the heart of the conflict in the country’s south. While they scour the rubble of local towns for Zeina’s son, they discover that despite their very different backgrounds they have much in common.

 

 

The Human Resources Manager
Hebrew [2010]

The Human Resources Manager of Jerusalem’s largest bakery is in trouble. He is separated from his wife, distanced from his daughter, and stuck in a job he hates. When one of his employees, a foreign worker, is killed in a suicide bombing, the bakery is accused of indifference.

 

 

Italian for Beginners
Danish [2000]

Several students of an Italian language class find romance in their studies of the language of love

 

 

 

Bread and Tulips
Italian [2000]

When a harried housewife is accidentally left behind while on vacation with her family, she decides to take a holiday of her own in Venice. She becomes charmed by the city and her newfound freedom.

 

 

 

Quill: The Life of a Guidedog
Japanese [2012]

The story of a yellow lab retriever guide dog for the blind named Quill. We follow Quill from the litter, his selection to become a guide, and his life with a foster family until his first birthday, followed by highly specialized schooling in guiding the sightless. He is paired with a blind man who is at first reluctant to rely on Quill. But Quill’s great patience, gentleness, and skill eventually win him over and they become inseparable friends.

 

Shall We Dance
Japanese [1996]

A middle-aged businessman’s dull life takes an interesting turn when he signs up for a ballroom dance class just to meet the beautiful dance instructor.

 

 

The Story of the Weeping Camel
Mongolian [2003]

A family of nomadic shepherds assists with the births of their camel herd in the South Mongolian Gobi Desert. One of the camels has an extremely difficult delivery, but with help from the family, delivers a rare white colt.

 

 

 

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway

Books and films to help you get inspired, break through your creative roadblocks, and figure out what to do when you’re done writing:

Getting Started…

No Plot? No Problem!
by Chris Baty

A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days. Written by NANOWRIMO’s founder, this is a great how-to guide for participating, with insights and tricks from both professional authors and successful participants. Also includes tips for the practicalities involved in surviving a month of novel writing.

 

Writing Down The Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
by Natalie Goldberg

Aimed at new and aspiring writers, to help make writing a regular habit.  Goldberg’s insights and tips are also helpful to anyone seeking to write more, for whatever reasons.

 

 

How Fiction Works
by James Woods

Meta-analysis of how fiction and stories work. While an essential text for anyone interested in the mechanics of fiction works, its points are not broken down into easy to read chunks like most “how to” books.

 

 

 

Working Through the Problems…

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Steven King

King’s two part meditation on the craft of writing – the first section recalls his career as a writer, the second contains a meditation into the craft of writing. Offers invaluable insights into the craft of writing.

 

 

Help! For Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces
by Roy Peter Clark

Help! For Writers contains 210 solutions to problems writers can encounter. While the entries are shallower then Clark’s other books, the book’s 210 solutions can help writers get over nearly any roadblock in their creative process.

 

 

An Angel At My Table
DVD [2005]

Having a hard time writing? Re-kindle your inspiration with the true-life story of Janet Frame, New Zealand’s most distinguished author. The film follows Frame from a poverty-stricken childhood to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia and electroshock therapy to, finally, literary fame.

 

You’ve got 50,000 Words – Now What?

The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself
by Susan Bell

Long-time editor Susan Bell shares her tips and systems to help with editing your own work.

 

 

 

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing
by Marlyn Ross and Sue Collier

Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, Promote, and Sell your Own Book”  Includes information on various types of self-publishing (including e-books), how to get your book to market yourself, and promote it once it’s for sale.

 

 

Writers Market 2012
by Writers Digest

Writers Market is the essential reference book covering America’s publishing industry. Writers Market contains multitudes of information about the book business in the United States, including agent and publisher information, and is an authoritative guide to publishing through traditional channels.

 

Stranger then Fiction

DVD [2006]

Ready for a break? Kick back with Kay Effiel, an author writing her latest novel about an isolated IRS agent. Except her protagonist turns out to be a real person, who suddenly starts to hear Kay narrating his life – inside his head.