This week’s addict blogs at Seize the Dave, where he shows off the nice row of Moleskine Cahiers (and an unidentified wire-o bound notebook) below.
Read more about his experience using fountain pens in these notebooks at seize the dave: paper review: moleskine cahier.
My latest Etsy fave: Big & Mighty. I love their irreverent customzied Moleskine cahiers! More styles available at Etsy.
JetPens is renowned as a fabulous source of, well, pens… but they also stock a lot of great notebooks too. Brad at Jet Pens was kind enough to send me some samples for review– let’s take a look!
These 3 notebooks are give a first impression of sleekness, somehow. The covers are smooth, and they are relatively thin and flexible. They range in size from about 5 13/16″ x 8 1/4″ to 7 1/8″ x 10″. For Japanese notebooks, these actually have less odd English verbiage on them than usual! One of them says it contains “MIO Paper,” and that this stands for “Mobile Ideal Original writing paper,” but that’s about as weird as it gets. The notebooks all have a very clean, minimal design.
First we have a Maruman notebook, with a wire-o binding and plastic front and back covers. The plastic has a slight ridged texture to it. Inside, you have smooth lined paper with a micro-perforated edge for easy removal.
Next, a Kikuyo Campus notebook, again with wire-o binding and a plastic front cover. This one has a very unusual page design– it’s lined, but there are dots along the lines, so it’s kind of a hybrid between lined and dot grid and squared. You can use it for writing or as you’d use graph paper, and the cover has a sticker on it that suggests a sort of geometrical figure being drawn using the dots. The pages also feature a space for numbering and a date at the top. They are not perforated. The back cover is a light, smooth cardboard.
And here’s another Kokuyo Campus notebook, this time with a metallic silver taped binding. The pages seem to be glued in. This one also has the number and date space at the top of each page, with regular, un-dotted lines below. The notebook has a wonderfully supple feel– the pages are smooth, the notebook opens very flat, and it’s very flexible, easily bending almost into a tube, and returning to perfect flatness afterwards. But the price you pay for this kind of flexibility is that the paper is quite thin. I tested a variety of pens and found that it’s wonderful to write on, with a very smooth, “hard” surface. I turned the page and at first was shocked that there was no show-through– but then I realized I’d actually turned more than one page because they’re so thin! When you’re actually looking at the back of the page, there’s quite a bit of show-through, and really penetrating markers like my Sharpies even bled through and made spots on the next facing page.
So if you like the aesthetic and tactile qualities of a basic yet refined notebook, you’ll love these– the paper feels just heavenly with a fine rollerball pen. But they may not be a top choice if show-through really bothers you. Check out these and a variety of other journals and notebooks offered at JetPens… or you can try your luck at winning the two samples I’m giving away!
I’ll select two random winners from entries submitted as follows:
On Twitter, tweet something containing “JetPens” and follow “@jetpens” and “@NotebookStories.”
On Facebook, “like” the Notebook Stories page and the JetPens page, and post something containing the words “JetPens” on my wall.
On your blog, post something containing the words “JetPens” and “NotebookStories” and link back to this post.
The deadline for entry is Friday Jan. 27 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone!
Steve at Recording Thoughts has written a marathon series on the question “One Notebook or Many?”
Now, I suppose you could argue that this isn’t even a question, as you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog if “many” notebooks wasn’t your idea of a good thing! But the issue here is whether to capture all your various jottings in one notebook at a time, vs. splitting them up into notebooks dedicated to single topics. Both approaches have their merits– a few excerpts and photos of Steve’s notebooks below.
One Notebook or Many? Part 1: The case for one notebook
One book is cooler. A volume covering all of ones life, being read by descendants long after my death, like the journals of Leonardo da Vinci, makes a nice day dream.
It’s fun to read through a diverse journal with sketches and notes on all kinds of things. Paging through an old journal and coming across doodles my daughter made is a treat. Sketches of things I was planning to build or of other things reminds me of the diversity of my life, which is often handy when I’ve become too focused on one narrow aspect….
One Notebook or Many? Part 2: The case for many notebooks.
A single subject notebook increases focus. When I’m writing in a single subject notebook, I feel a discipline to focus on that subject. It’s a reminder of what I’m doing, and there’s no risk that while I’m paging through old entries I’ll end up on some trip down memory lane. Instead, paging through the book reminds me of other aspects of the subject, helps the focus, and can even help with writer’s block…
One Notebook or Many? Part 3: The case for loose sheets
Blank sheets are versatile and adaptable. Since it’s not part of a book, it doesn’t have a dedicated purpose. The paper can be used for anything – I can write a letter, leave a note, give it to my daughters to draw on, or fold it into an airplane. This is especially useful when traveling, because it means I carry less…
One Notebook or Many? Part 4: What’s been working for me
Separate book vs. in the journal. I’ve found that unless the new book has a very strong purpose (like the NumberQuotes notebook) or has a specific place in my life and routine (weekly planner), it’s at risk of being abandoned. The food journal hasn’t quite become a reliable partner yet, but the birds book has. The weekly planner has become very important, and I record some things there that could be in my journal. Despite many attempts to find an electronic replacement for my weight records, pen and paper have proven to be the best and most reliable.
If the work has a lot of structure, and clear boundaries, a separate book seems to work best. If the work is somewhat amorphous, a separate book just doesn’t feel right. For example, I just used the large Leuchtturm1917 Jottbook I received to start a web-focused notebook, only ideas and thoughts related to my various websites that don’t have books of their own, or for ideas (like selling ad space) that are common to all sites. That lasted a short while before the book become refocused on this blog. So far, it’s been earning its keep.
So many things in these posts resonated for me. I’ve tried various approaches, and like Steve have ended up with a hybrid solution: one main notebook for most things, plus a few satellite notebooks for specific topics or uses that require a different format. But the other solution that I was surprised Steve didn’t mention was to use a Filofax or similar binder– you can incorporate different page formats, devote a few pages in a section to different topics, and carry over pages you want to keep for reference while filing away others. I used small looseleaf notebooks for years and loved them… but then electronic devices replaced the calendar and address book sections of those notebooks… and for what was left, a stack of bound journals did just seem cooler than a box full of rubber-banded looseleaf pages. But I keep feeling like I should give it a try again.
How about you? One or many? Join in the discussion here or at Recording Thoughts.
I love seeing videos of people flipping through their notebooks, especially colorful art journals like the one below, from Leslie at Comfortble Shoes Studio.
Read more at Comfortable Shoes Studio: Journal Flip: Moleskine #3.
This week’s addict is a 21 year old “struggling journalist” who notes:
There is no such thing as too many notebooks, after all. =)
Here’s a few from her collection:
Read more at journals & notebooks « MarlaViray~ marvels, musings and meanderings.
Jenny asks “Do you know of any companies that produce notebooks for keeping track of books read? I remember seeing one at some point, but I didn’t need one then 
As I am now working in a library and reading more, I would like to keep track of what I am reading and whether I liked it or not.”
I can think of two: Moleskine Passions Book Journal
Sabrina writes “I want to do a fun little journal project with my sister who lives 10 hours away. I’m thinking something like ‘Wreck This Journal
This is an interesting idea. I have never seen anything designed specifically for this purpose, but I hope someone decides to make one! If you’re going to be mailing it back and forth, you’d probably want something sturdy but lightweight, and not too oversized, and without a spiral or wire-o binding, since that could get crushed or bent. The Moleskine Cahiers or Japanese Albums, FieldNotes, some of the Whitelines journals or Rhodia staple-bound pads– there are lots of possibilities. Then just add your own writing prompts from books like these
One other thing that might or might not generate some ideas for how to set up a two-person journal: journals designed for couples to write in together, such as these:
Kathy asks “I’m taking biology classes next semester and I’m wondering if I should choose Moleskine XLarge Soft Cover Notebooks or Whitelines Saddlestitched. Which is a better fit? I need something that can withhold throught the whole semester, because I know I’ll be opening the notebook(s) 100000x to reread my notes…It doesn’t matter if it’s ruled or squared.”
The softcover Moleskines have gotten a bad rap in the past for bindings that tear loose at the spine, but they might be worth a try again if you haven’t used one for a while, as they seem to be making more recent ones with a reinforced spine. I used one not long ago and had no problems whatsoever although previous ones had torn. The tape that reinforces the spine adds a slight thickness so you’ll see the edge of it under the cover material if it’s there. I haven’t fully tested a Whitelines notebook for durability, but perhaps other readers can chime in?
Thanks for your questions and answers, everyone! If you use Facebook, the Notebook Stories page there is also a great chance to interact with other notebook fans, since it takes me a forever to catch up on my emails!
I got an email a few months ago introducing me to these cool notebook necklaces, handmade by Casey at FartsyArts!
My name is Casey and I TOO am a lover of notebooks. Mole skin, spiral, sketchbooks, oh my! I probably have too many but there is something so lovely about having blank notebooks around JUST in case.
I have so much love for notebooks that I decided to design a necklace that doubles as a notebook so I could always have one close. My notebook necklaces contain blank pages so they have a wide variety of uses.
Simply love notebooks
-make it a part of your daily fashion statement.Need to remember something?
-Grab a piece of paper and jot it down.Meet someone cute and want digits?
-Forget about writing on your hand, washing it off, and possibly losing the “one.”Never again!
You can buy these necklaces (and other cool items) at www.fartsyarts.etsy.com
Some diaries featured in today’s Wall Street Journal…
Here’s another sketchbook addict, found via the “Sketchbook Series” posts at Book By Its Cover. She uses an interesting variety of sketchbooks and her artwork is lovely!
See more here.
