An excellent article at LitHub by Bradford Morrow, author of the just-published Prague Sonata, among other books. Really interesting look at a writer’s process and why he prefers physical note-taking to digital methods. Big thanks to reader Raymond for sending me the tip! “My memory is good, but capricious at times. My scraps of paper … Continue reading Bradford Morrow’s Boorum & Pease Ledger
You may have heard about the movie Victoria and Abdul, which stars Judi Dench as Queen Victoria, and Ali Fazal as a young Indian servant named Abdul Karim, whom she became close to. He taught her to speak and write in Urdu, which she practiced in notebooks such as the one below. Karim kept his … Continue reading Queen Victoria’s Urdu Notebook
Some great quotes about journal-keeping, from a variety of writers, including the ones below: “People who keep journals have life twice.†– Jessamyn West “The diary taught me that it is in the moments of emotional crisis that human beings reveal themselves most accurately. I learned to choose the heightened moments because they are … Continue reading Writers on Keeping Diaries and Journals
British comedian Abigoliah Schamaun has done 2000 comedy gigs, and filled lots of notebooks with her material. She talks about them below, accompanied by photographs by her boyfriend Tom Watts: “…I’ve written jokes and setlists into vast numbers of notebooks. I have a notebook on me at all times. They are my security blanket. It … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Abigoliah Schamaun
This book looks great– an entire graphic novel in facsimile notebook form: My Favorite Thing is Monsters “Set in the same 1960s Chicago where Ferris spent her youth, the book’s main character is Karen Reyes, a 10-year-old obsessed with movie monsters…. The central gimmick of the comic is that Karen is the cartoonist behind its … Continue reading “My Favorite Thing is Monsters,” a Graphic Novel by Emil Ferris
David Sedaris has a new book out called Theft By Finding, which contains entries from diaries he’s kept from 40 years, including while he was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. The diaries themselves are quite interesting– he made many of them himself and decorated the covers: Read more at: David Sedaris: The … Continue reading David Sedaris’ Diaries
This looks like a lovely book, full of travel sketches and notes on flora and fauna found in uncharted places: Explorers’ Sketchbooks. “This remarkable book showcases 70 such sketchbooks, kept by intrepid men and women as they journeyed perilous and unknown environments—frozen wastelands, high mountains, barren deserts, and dense rainforests—with their senses wide open.” Available … Continue reading Explorers’ Sketchbooks
Another nice example of a cook’s notebook, this time from the renowned cookbook author Paula Wolfert: Read more at: Her Memory Fading, Paula Wolfert Fights Back With Food – The New York Times
I had never heard of this Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, but I like the looks of his notebooks! [Playwright Lanford Wilson] passed away in 2011 and left his papers to the University of Missouri Libraries. The collection includes correspondence, working notebooks, drafts and proof copies, and well as work related to Wilson’s personal interests, such as … Continue reading Lanford Wilson’s Notebooks
Happy 2017! Have you started a new notebook for the new year? I haven’t, but below are a few of my favorites from a recent article about journals. I particularly like that patchwork suede! See more at 18 Best Notebooks for Journaling and Writing – The Muse Save