Top Ten Favorite Books

I am a voracious reader. I devour at least one novel a week. In fact, since junior high I have averaged about two books a week. If you are going to have an addiction, a "Jones" for books is not a bad one. As a body language expert, I am often taken with the talent of certain authors to detail a facial expression, gesture or tone of voice. In my friend John and I's Evening and Emory Class called the Meeting of the Minds we would ask the students to bring their favorite book on the fourth week of class. We often ended up trading Top Ten favorite book lists. My list changes a bit from year to year. The Secret Garden has been on my list since grade school. My affinity for Science fiction is no longer apparent from this list. I have taken off two books that where on the list I had in High School, "Stranger in a Strange Land" and Arthur C Clark's "Childhoods End." Though it is Junior Fiction Phillip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" was not on the list till 1998 when I found it on the search for something like the Harry Potter books. I took that wonderful book off the list this year to put on a book that still haunts me, "The Post Birthday World." While I really enjoyed, "Julie, Julia" and "Eat Pray Love", last year they did not make the list this year. In fact, I am back to old favorites. Here is the current list.

Patti's Top Ten Novels
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
About a Boy by Nick Hornsby
Angels Ashes by Frank McCourt
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
The Post Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Nyasaland
The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

In Junior High and High School I loved science fiction of all kinds, I read every Agatha Christie novel (I think there are over 87 novels) and everything I could find about King Aurthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In grad school I found the female perspective of the Aurthur legend, "The Mists of Avalon." I can still remember reading the 1,400 page novel over a spring break. Most of the reading was done while I sat in a beach chair at my mom's house in SawGrass Florida. I faced toward the ocean for seven days, but didn't get any sun on my chin, because my face was down inside the novel. The Book description on Amazon says, "Even readers who don't normally enjoy Arthurian legends will love this version, a retelling from the point of view of the women behind the throne. Morgaine (more commonly known as Morgan Le Fay) and Gwenhwyfar (a Welsh spelling of Guinevere) struggle for power, using Arthur as a way to score points and promote their respective worldviews. The Mists of Avalon's Camelot politics and intrigue take place at a time when Christianity is taking over the island-nation of Britain; Christianity vs. Faery, and God vs. Goddess are dominant themes."

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
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Speaking, risk.

I called my sister the night before a Live TV interview and shared with her that I was scared out of my ever loving mind. I feared being humiliated in front of a national TV audience and having it forever live on YouTube. She said, "Then why do it?" "Why put yourself through that?" "That doesn't make sense?" I said, "I do it because if I don't do it, I won't know if I can, and that would be excruciating." "If I do do it I will know I can do even more." "I have done this a million times, but if I don't keep working harder, I will not grow."





Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
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Not a Timid Soul

After I finish speaking I often have audience members come up and ask how they can speak with out fear. I share with them, that I have many tools that I use that I can teach them to reduce destructive fear, use constructive fear and ride the wave of excitement to enjoy speaking. The fear is there when you care, it inspired you to work hard, to do your very best, and then risk to go beyond the hardest thing you have ever done, go beyond what you think is your very best. To take a step and even dare to leap into the void and believe that you can fly. Here is a quote to inspire you and to continually inspire me.

Roosevelt on Sweat and Timid Souls
One of my absolute favorite quotes.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
American statesman (26th US president: 1901-09)
from "Man in the Arena" Speech given April 23, 1910

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
I have a new quiz on my YouTubestation. Check it out!
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Photo-retouching against the law? Attractiveness

In the UK Photo shopping could become illegal. Conservative parliamentarian Valérie Boyer, asks, When writers take a news item or real event and considerably embellish it, they are required to alert readers by calling the work fiction, a novel or a story based on dramatized facts. Why should it be any different for photographs?”
She proposes, "...doctored photos meant for public distribution to carry the warning “Photograph retouched to modify the physical appearance of a person.” and that anyone violating the rule could be fined about $55,000. For more info and the really scary before and after Ralph Lauren Adds link http://ethicalstyle.com/tag/photo-retouching/

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
I have a new quiz on my YouTubestation. Check it out!
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Retouched photos, beauty and attractiveness

My friend Jim is a media lighting expert. He also retouches headshots and other still photos. He takes your photo and turns you into a work of art. I told his I wish he could follow me around all day magically retouching my image. But alas, he cannot. I put his retouch of my last head shot on blog entry, but I don’t use that version in my promotional material. I fear that a client or producer who saw the unlined face in the photo might see me show up for a speech or media interview and say, “Where’s Patti?”
The desire for perfect beauty, the ideal shape, smooth unwrinkled skin, make Photo retouching is derigor in print media. Just look at what they did to Madonna, Katie Corack and Demi More in these photos. http://gone-hollywood.com/tag/madonna/
The link takes you to some starteling photo retouching before and afters.
It’s unbelievable. This constant barrage of retouched photos create a standard of beauty that can't be reached by a anyone over the age or 14. In fact, I can even see teenage girls bringing these stars retouched photos into their plastic surgeons and saying, “Make me look like this.” Hummm, if I took Jim’s retouched photo of me to a plastic surgeon...? Excuse me why I warm up my printer. Below is another link.
http://ethicalstyle.com/tag/photo-retouching/


Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
I have a new quiz on my YouTubestation. Check it out!
YouTube- YouTube - bodylanguageexpert's Channel