Suzanne Strong's Blog, page 2

My book Freedom Writing is available as an audio book on Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Suzanne_Strong_Freedom_Writing?id=AQAAAEDypHHkkM&hl=en

Les Miserable – finally finished :)

Hey everyone, after about 18 months of reading I finally finished Les Miserable! It is 1220 pages long and he has written in detail about many aspects of France – the revolution, including sewers, slang, social customs, some of this detail I read and some I didn’t read. There was detail about the Napoleonic wars – so much detail – he felt he was a historian as well as telling an amazing story.

Hugo’s characters were very well developed, but also extremely nuanced and complex. I love the story, the characters and how he shows the story of grace, forgiveness and turning the other cheek so beautifully.

I felt a sense of accomplishment after finishing it, because it was written in 1862. Hugo’s sense of social justice, his comment on society, poverty, people from different walks of life I found compassionate and brilliant. His philosophical comments were very interesting – it is truly one of the best stories ever told.

Hugo also, was a campaigner against the death penalty and slavery, he was did more than 4000 drawings, he produced many short stories, poetry, essays and other novels, such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame. His career spanned 60 years. I really enjoyed living in his mind for all of that time and I see the world similarly to Hugo in terms of social justice and spiritual beliefs about God etc. It was a rich blessing to me but I am relieved that I can now read a more modern novel to just cruise through the language etc and plot easier. Haha.

I am now reading Marian Keys, she’s always great to read for a light read.

Thanks for reading! Suz

My book for free for the next few days…

Hey everyone,

Where the Sun Rises is free for the next two days, click on the link above if you are curious about having a read! Have a great day! Suz

My Review of Sometimes a Soldier Comes Home! Beautiful Book!

Freedom Writing – no. 6 Best Seller Amazon

New Review Where the Sun Rises

Review from Where the Sun Rises!

Freedom Writing no.9 Amazon USA Best Seller :)

Where the Sun Rises No.6 on Amazon Australia :)

‘Les Miserable’ have you ever read it?

Hey everyone,

I have been reading Les Miserable for the past year, yes one year! The thing is the book is 1263 pages it is huge! It is bigger in size than the Bible, haha. I am a little bit more than half of the way through.

I am loving the gems that Victor Hugo puts in with this writing, but I am also struggling with the amount of detail he includes. It makes me very aware of the modern attention span, which they say is 8 seconds long shorter than a gold fish which is 9 seconds haha.

I want to persevere with the book as I love the actual story of love, redemption, grace, revolution and justice and mercy. It is an epic story that is worthy of attention. Hugo actually received one of the highest payments for this book at the time, the equivalent of a million dollar payment for it. He argued for this, but in a way it is also a historical book talking about France and the revolution in detail. It is definitely worthy of the money but that is phenomenal, even now not many people receive that amount of money.

Anyway, I just wanted to post up a pic to show how substantial the book is – I am loving the wisdom, philosophy, observation of life, complexity of characterisation, and the depth of story.

I do recommend reading it, however you have to persevere haha so be prepared for this. It is not for the faint hearted. (The cover has deteriorated over the past few years).

Happy reading and writing! I am still writing my third novel – and enjoying this process.