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“Flatter me- and I may not believe you. Criticize me - and I may not like you. Ignore me - and I may not forgive you. Encourage me - and I will not forget you., Love me and I may be forced to love you.” - William Arthur Ward
“Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.” – John Steinbeck
Esme's Cloud 
Ha! I struggled with Grapes of Wrath. Trudging down that long boring road I fell asleep and never got to the end. But East of Eden? Brilliant. So Steinbeck on his cloud may graciously read my one word review and approve.
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Hahahaha, I can just see him beaming down at you. Or is he mooning? Hard to say.
I agree with you too on the books. I also found ‘The Pearl’ as dull as dishwater, yet enjoyed ‘Of Mice and Men’ enormously.
she who snoozes upon a Cloud
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Steinbeck on the moon?
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“Praise, my dear one. Let us disappear into praising. Nothing belongs to us.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
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Mmmmmmm. Very nice H. nods a great deal whilst chewing the words.
Sonmi The Cloud Entertainer
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You are either good at what you do or you are not. Praise is for the ego doing is of the soul. Get them confused and one is lost.
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Yes, but personal taste decides whether something is ‘good’ or not. There are some things which are obviously good. A good washing machine will last (ideally) forever. Is the design good for you though? Perhaps not. With criticism, the constructive part is borne partly, if not mostly, from picking out the best parts, the angles and dangles that appeal so to speak. The bits that lift you above and beyond, take you to another place and time, when it comes to writing for instance.
Without praise, true praise I mean, honest, straight from the hip, right in the eye praise, we would wither into indifference, and not create at all. For every dark trough of a review, the balance (one hopes), of a genuine shining peak, makes a creator, one of any kind, the happiest soul in the world.
Just my two-penneth laughs.
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Yes, recognition is essential to the artist who offers their work to the world, and for some – most notably performing musicians perhaps – then the engagement of the audience itself participates in the creative quality of the work. Then again, it is possible to overstep the mark:
“Any fool who can put paint on canvas or turn a cardboard box into a sculpture is lauded. Banksy should have been put down at birth. It’s no good as art, drawing or painting. His work has no virtue. It’s merely the sheer scale of his impudence that has given him so much publicity.”
Brian Sewell (Dog Lover, Misanthrope, and Good Egg – RIP)
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Hahahaha. Yes, overstepping just a tad there was Brian. His subtlety combined with that syrupy, nasal voice often had me in mind of a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster – a beverage described by Douglas Adams as -“A slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick”. Fits Brian’s acerbic edge to a tee I’d say. R.I.P indeed.
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