A Turkish Grandmother’s Notebook

I’ve been reading Orhan Pamuk’s fascinating book Istanbul: Memories and the City. It’s an interesting mix of city history and personal memoir, and here’s a passage I had to share: “My grandmother always kept with her a slim leather-bound notebook in which she wrote something every day. This notebook, in which she recorded bills, memories, … Continue reading A Turkish Grandmother’s Notebook

“The Importance of Having a Crap Notebook”

Here’s an interesting take on notebooks that I have to quote at length: I don’t like fancy journals. Hardbound is great for books, but when it comes to things I write in, spiral bound please. No fancy covers – though hard covers can be nice when you write on the road a lot. No fifty-dollar, … Continue reading “The Importance of Having a Crap Notebook”

Notebook Addict of the Week: Karen

Karen sent me this photo of some of her notebooks, saying I confess that these are all unused at the moment (I’m currently using a Moleskine sketchbook, a cheap sketchbook with watercolour paper from The Works, a UK discount store, for art journalling and a small notebook in my bag for jotting down important facts … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Karen

Notebooks Full of Box Scores

It never ceases to amaze me how many different ways there are for people to use notebooks. Here’s one I hadn’t personally contemplated: I’ve always loved box scores. From 1990-2009, I never missed one day of clipping and taping box scores, a streak that our best baseball fans must acknowledge is far more impressive than … Continue reading Notebooks Full of Box Scores

Slow Boat’s Chinese Notebooks

The blogger at Slow Boat is using these notebooks to study Chinese: The cover of notebook #1 states that “This is the most comfortable notebook you have ever run into.” Notebook #2 goes even further: Our finest quality paper ensure the smooth surface that is a pleasure to write on. This is the most comfortable … Continue reading Slow Boat’s Chinese Notebooks

Moleskine Monday: Memo’s Secure System

I found this from a comment on the Art of Manliness post about notebooks. Memo talks about his system for using notebooks, but what intrigued me most was this photo: That is some seriously secure storage for notebooks! Love it! (especially since he made this out of an electrical box instead of buying a more … Continue reading Moleskine Monday: Memo’s Secure System

Notebook Addict of the Week: AntSaint

Do you type up things you write in your notebooks? This week’s addict does, or at least tries to! But he hasn’t gotten through the entire backlog of this collection: A notebook first found its way into my pocket in 1995. I was a college freshman, a gumshoe at the college newspaper. One night at … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: AntSaint

Typography Notebook

NubbyTwiglet has an interesting idea for a visual journal/scrapbook: a Typography Notebook. I read a lot of magazines and find amazing type everywhere I look. Instead of keeping these images loose (and just waiting to get lost), I began gluing them into an inexpensive Muji notebook that I deemed my ‘Typography Notebook’ about two years … Continue reading Typography Notebook