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Chosen Forever: a memoir
 
 
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Chosen Forever: a memoir [Hardcover]

Susan Richards (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 1, 2008
“Richards reflects on how rich life becomes when one travels her own best path. . . . Richards writes more courageously than she perhaps realizes, and each page of this uplifting book will touch a chord in everyone who enjoyed her first book.”-- Booklist

“Charismatic. . . Engaging writing by an honest self-explorer.”-- Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Chosen by a Horse:

“An inspired story of what family means, and what the loss of one can do to us, and for us.”—The Boston Globe

“An incredibly moving story, beautifully written and insightful.”—The Roanoke Times

“Two kindred spirits find each other in this beautifully written memoir.”—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

When Susan Richards adopted an abused horse rescued by the local SPCA, she didn’t know how Lay Me Down’s loving nature would touch her heart—and change her life.

Susan, a writing teacher, had lost her mother at the age of five and been abandoned by her father to uncaring relatives; she had endured an unhappy marriage ending in divorce and had self-medicated for anxiety and repressed anger with alcohol. For more than a decade, she aspired to be published, but it was only with the memoir she wrote to honor Lay Me Down that she achieved this goal.

The book led to a book tour, in the course of which Susan reconnected with family and friends. But even more joyously, at the second reading on her tour she met the man who had sold her his house twenty-four years earlier, a world-famous photographer, Dennis Stock. And they fell in love.

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Chosen Forever: a memoir + Chosen by a Horse: A Memoir + Saddled: How a Spirited Horse Reined Me In and Set Me Free
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Far better than a book tour chronicle has any right to be, Richards' follow-up to her bestseller Chosen by a Horse again shows her gift for clarity in description, of both her physical surroundings and the landscapes of her heart and mind. The publicity campaign (and cover photo) focus on Richards's surprise romance with renowned photographer Dennis Stock, who appears at one of her book signings: "I remember thinking that no one like that would ever be interested in someone like me." But he was interested, so much so that there's little suspense involved their relationship. While her observations about later-in-life love are spot-on, the heart of Richards' book is how she comes to accept herself as a worthwhile author, despite crushingly low self-esteem. As she travels around the country, reconnecting with folks from her past and addressing small audiences, she reveals an infectious passion for her craft; that Chosen by a Horse turns out to be a phenomenon, and that Stock ends up marrying her, just makes Richards's work of self-discovery sweeter.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Richards reflects on how rich life becomes when one travels her own best path. Orphaned early in life, Richards struggled to connect with the world until a horse named Lay Me Down taught her how to trust another creature and to love deeply. These hard-learned lessons became her emotional bedrock. As she chronicles her travels across the country to promote her very successful Chosen by a Horse (2006), she is stoically honest about her battles with anxiety and alcoholism. Book tours are far from glamorous, and Richards allows her readers a rare glimpse into what goes through the mind of a nervous author as she wipes sweaty palms on her black trousers on the way to the podium to read. But she does meet her future husband, Dennis Stock, along the way. A talented photojournalist, he gently and determinedly woos her, believing that fate brought them together. Richards writes more courageously than she perhaps realizes, and each page of this uplifting book will touch a chord in everyone who enjoyed her first book. --Pamela Crossland

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 278 pages
  • Publisher: Soho Press (June 1, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1569474923
  • ISBN-13: 978-1569474921
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Richards was born December 12, 1949 in New York City and was raised in Rye, NY. When Richards was five, her mother, Marguerite Richards, died of leukemia, and her father, Peter Richards, abandoned Richards and her older brother, Lloyd. Richards and

 

Customer Reviews

27 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent, poignant, and endearing - highly recommended!, May 31, 2009
This review is from: Chosen Forever (Paperback)
Any voracious reader as I am, loves the times when a book overtakes them so completely they lose all track of time. This was the case with me for Chosen Forever, Susan Richard's more than worthy sequel to Chosen By A Horse. I hadn't even known there was a sequel until two weeks ago when browsing through the bookstore while my granddaughter played nearby. How happy I was to find this gem! Chosen by a Horse chronicled how a rescue horse named Lay Me Down changed Richards' life. In Chosen Forever, we see how writing the book itself affected her in ways she never imagined. As one who has been an author escort, I found her stories of her book tour a very good example of those I've been on from those with a big throng to those when nobody shows up. But more than that they way Susan reconnected with those from the past during her book tour was very courageous. And meeting the love of her life, who she coincidentally had purchased her farm from 24 years earlier, was the icing on the cake. As I turned the last page at 4:30 AM, I was so glad that Susan had the happily ever after she deserved. She is such a talented writer that I certainly hope she is able to gift her readers with more of her beautiful prose, whether it be in memoir or novel form. I will be first in line to buy it.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying Sequel, July 25, 2008
By 
This review is from: Chosen Forever: a memoir (Hardcover)
Chosen Forever can be seen as another stanza in Susan Richards's loving ode to her departed horse, Lay Me Down. Once again, Richards has expressed their mutual love beautifully. However, this book goes much farther than the first memoir, because Richards has come much farther as a person. I would think that Chosen Forever was a more difficult book for Richards to write because she had to rely more on herself to fill the emotional void left by Lay Me Down's death. I appreciated her account of her journey to getting published, and how her readings turned out; because she came to value the fallow periods in life as well as the high points.

I couldn't put this book down, because I couldn't help but feel the human drama as Richards gradually let her guard down enough to fall in love(probably for the first time)and marry the serenely mature Dennis Stock. Despite an emotionally tragic childhood, and unfortunate first marriage, Richards discovered that middle age is no reason not to seek or have love in one's life. Furthermore, she teaches that it's OK to be a work in progress. In short, Chosen Forever is an inspiration, and well worth the time.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars What happened next, February 3, 2010
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This review is from: Chosen Forever (Paperback)
Susan Richard's "Chosen By A Horse" ended with real heartbreak. This story picks up where that left off, describing how she was able to turn personal tragedy into emotional healing and triumph. If you liked the first book, you'll love this one. I recommend that "Chosen By A Horse" be read prior to this one. I think "Chosen Forever" would be a bit confusing, and not as interesting, if "Chosen By A Horse" isn't read first.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
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Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lay Me Down, Dennis Stock, New England, New Hampshire, New York, Kents Hill, Kancamagus Highway, Bear Pond Books, Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Cadillac Mountain, Mount Desert, Michael Korda, Ulster County Community College, Norton Juster, Emily Dickinson, White Mountain National Forest, West Forty-seventh Street, Most High, Little Cranberry Island, Dragon Books
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