I love this sketchbook cover:
Moleskinov.net: Russian Notebooks
One of these days, perhaps after I win the lottery, I’m going to go on a notebook tour of the world. I’ll definitely hit Japan and Germany and the Philippines, and perhaps China if I can somehow infiltrate all the factories there that are churning out notebooks… but Russia will also be a destination high on my list. I’ve come across a couple of websites with some very intriguing offerings, such as this one: МолеÑкинов нет — купи замену молеÑкину.. Here’s a couple of images:
Translating the site is a little dicey– you’ll get descriptions like this:
High quality, elegant and classic – a classic collection of notebooks Herlitz you will always make the right impression. High coverage “under the skin”, a beautiful cream-colored paper, fixing the gum and inner pocket converts this notebook into a bright, comfortable accessory.
Still, any notebook I don’t have in my collection is always fun to at least look at!
Moleskine vs. Greenapple
Jessica compares a Moleskine sketchbook to a Greenapple notebook, a much less expensive brand found in the Philippines.
Her comments: different elastic, doesn’t open as flat, and the paper is whiter and coarser. Worth a try at about 1/4 the price of a Moleskine! (At least if you live in the Philippines.)
Has anyone else tried one?
Read the full review and see more photos at The Carnet Challenge | JessicarulestheUniverse
Notebook Addict of the Week: Travisthetrout
Travis the Trout shares this photo of his stash, at least part of it!
The notebook collection here is very different from my eye-candy ones of my childhood when my collection was all about the look, now my notebooks also have a more academic appeal. My intentions are to weed out the practical from the beautiful and try and come up with a more organised way for displaying such notebooks rather than have them stacked in my wardrobe.
I’m impressed when notebook addicts can get to the point of attractively displaying their notebooks rather than just keeping the huge piles from spilling over!
Read more at My Study Project: The notebook edition « Travisthetrout’s Blog.
Notebooks for Indian Children
Here’s a big batch of notebooks, all donated for underprivileged kids attending government schools in India:
And here’s some of the kids who are using them now:
What a great idea…
Read more at Notebook Distribution Program @ HD Kote « i Thought, i Think i’d Blog – Sandeep.
Question from a Reader: Covered Spiral Notebook
A while back, a reader named Gil wrote to ask for help in finding an elusive notebook. I’m stumped, so I’m turning the question over to all you other notebook fans!
Gil says:
“i’ve been trying desperately to locate any surviving specimens of a spiral notebook i used as a junior high student in 1968-1970. it was a 9 1/2″ by 6″ spiral notebook with brown board cover, 3 section and 150 pages. what made it unique was that the wire spiral  was covered with a green plastic binding. it was not a novelty item-you could buy it in any stationery or candy store and it was manufactured by one one of the big companies, mead or national, i can’t recall. i’d pay dearly to find just one for purchase!”
After some further correspondence, Gil sent me these notebooks, which are similar to what he’s looking for: one a Mead notebook that is widely available, and one home-made model! I wasn’t familiar with that particular Mead notebook style and was quite impressed– it has some nice extra features like notecards and pockets, and the covered spiral is actually a great feature–it’s so annoying when those wires get caught on something!
So try to picture these with a brown board cover and green plastic over the spiral– can anyone help Gil find this notebook?
Thanks to anyone who can chime in, and thanks also to Gil for sending me these samples for my collection!
This is Not a Photograph of Notebooks
Notebooks at the Winter Olympics: Shani Davis
I was excited to find this, since speedskating is one of my favorite parts of the Winter Olympics: Shani Davis keeps notebooks!
Since 2004, he has kept meticulous journals, recording his lap times in training and the smallest details on race days, from what he ate for breakfast to the condition of the ice to what he was feeling mentally and physically.
“His notebooks are pretty Shani-specific, I think, but a lot of people could learn from them,” said Schouten, who coached in the U.S. from 1996 to 2006 and now coaches in Germany. “Maybe at the end he can write a book with his advice. It would sell very well.”
Let’s hope he brings a medal home from Vancouver!
Read more at Fire on Ice – JSOnline.
Notebook Addict of the Week: Hannah
Our latest addict of the week is Hannah, who blogs at Slightly Lovely. Here’s her stash:
And here’s what she has to say about them:
This is a pile of notebooks gathered from around my bedroom (I’m sure there are more hidden on shelves, in closets & drawers). In this pile, there are spiral notebooks, leather notebooks, still-wrapped notebooks (for when I finish my current notebooks), half-ripped out notebooks (I have a bad habit of looking at what I’ve written later and thinking it’s dumb), school notebooks, personal notebooks, 4 small Moleskine notebooks (the “legendary notebook of Hemingway, Picasso and Chatwin”), lined and unlined notebooks; you get the idea.Superfluous, you think? Unnecessary? I can’t help it. I don’t know what it is about pretty notebooks and journals, stationary, pens and lists. I gravitate to and accumulate them. They give some sort of pleasure with an associated productivity that is magnetic and seductive to me.
Magnetic and seductive… I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Read more at Slightly Lovely: Extravagantly Noted.
Snow Patrol: “I hope those notebooks are incinerated.”
I’d never heard of the band Snow Patrol
As for his own lyrics, he keeps notebooks full of them. “Bad, bad words. The day I die I hope those notebooks are incinerated. Some of them are just awful. Even some of the ones that ended up on the albums are awful.â€
Another universal notebook issue, I think: you know they’re full of crap and you’d be embarrassed for anyone to read them, yet you can’t get rid of them!
Read more at Snow Patrol: ‘We’re not ready for greatest hits’ – Times Online.