Here’s some attractive notebooks, printed on recycled paper with soy inks: Workbook Duos, by EcoJot.
They look like they are packaged similarly to Moleskine cahiers, but this is another one of those frustratingly uninformative websites: what is the size of these notebooks? It doesn’t seem to say anywhere, and you have to dig into each individual design to find out that the paper is lined, and that there are 64 pages. Still, I really like the designs.
This quote rang a bell with me:
But see, I don’t even like journals. For a few years, I would often get journals and blank notebooks from friend and family — cause what do you get a girl who writes a lot? Blank paper. But I would never actually ‘finish’ those journals. I have about 8 quarter or half-filled journals at the moment. I never knew what to write in them. I still don’t know what to write in them. [LINK]
I could almost have said that myself. I’ve been given several journals over the years– some of them were wonderful. I did know what to write in them and I used them up completely. But others were those overy “gifty” journals that you don’t know what to do with. You think they might serve some purpose, but it never quite works out because they just don’t have that THING, whatever it is that makes a notebook click for you. It’s very hard to know what anyone else’s THING is, therefore notebooks can be very tricky as gifts. It’s too bad, because in theory they should be great gifts– relatively inexpensive, practical, something that everyone uses at least once in a while… but boy, are they easy to get wrong.
Do you give notebooks as gifts? Have you received notebooks as gifts, and if so, were they ones that you actually liked and used?
I have two of the Moleskine City Notebooks
Paris is the kind of place that is so constantly featured in newspaper and magazine articles– the Moleskine book gave me a place to jot down all the ideas that appealed to me. I’d also been given many suggestions by friends, which also went into the Moleskine. Finally, I made notes from a travel guide that I’d gotten for free– it was a big fat book, not the kind of thing anyone would really want to have in their bag while trying to travel light. Since I was only going for a short trip anyway, I loved being able to customize my own guidebook to focus on just the things that I knew I wanted to do, while still having all the maps I needed to get around, and blank pages for adding new notes on the go. The three ribbon markers in the book came in handy for marking map pages and my notes about my next destination.
I very much hope to visit Paris again soon– if I could, I think I’d go once a year! I love the idea of having my own travel guide and address book for a city, and being able to build it over the years as I learn more about a place. I used to go to London frequently for work and pleasure, and I wish I’d had one of these city notebooks to capture all my favorite haunts there and replace the A-to-Z map book I always had to carry there anyway, even once I knew the city well! I may have to buy a London city notebook even though I have no plans to visit again soon.
As for my New York city notebook, I’ve yet to write any information in it about my favorite places here. I don’t tend to need the maps, so I don’t carry it around. I do like having it, though, and I think it would be fun to fill it with all sorts of recommended restaurants and shops and sights so I could lend it to any friends from out of town who come to visit.
One feature I hope Moleskine might add to future printings would be an additional set of labels including some sort of little arrows or markers, perhaps with numbers. I kept thinking it would be helpful to be able to flag some key locations on the maps without having to use the translucent overlay sheets
Cool! I was very intrigued by Doane Paper when I first saw it at The Pen Addict. Now they offer it in pocket notebooks! They measure 3.5 x 5.5″ and sound like they are very similar to Moleskine cahiers, but with the nice combo graph & lined Doane Paper. I wish the cover didn’t have that big logo, but I guess I can forgive them for wanting to promote their brand a bit!
[Via The Notebook Addict]
Here’s another post about an out of control notebook craving:
I love notebooks. I love blank pages, ready to absorb new thoughts. I love filled notebooks as proof that I did think.
Her collection:
The notebooks I use most frequently are hard cover pocket sketchbooks, with heavy unlined paper that is suitable for various kinds of ink, pencil, and watercolor paints. I like to doodle and draw sometimes, so this type of notebook works well for me even though I also tend to use them for keeping a journal.
For several years, I’ve been using the Moleskine sketchbooks quite happily, but more recently I’ve started to explore other options. Here are a few that I’ll be talking about in this post:
As you can see, they all come packaged more or less the same way, with a removable paper band.
They are all almost identically sized at approximately 3.5 x 5.5 inches:
The Moleskine is the thinnest of the bunch, while the HandBook is noticeably chunkier. The Derwent is slightly smaller than the rest, which I rather like. The Pen & Ink has the most cover overhang (at top in photo below), whereas the Handbook has almost none.
In terms of how each one feels in my hand, I lean towards the slightly smaller and thicker form of the HandBook and the Derwent.
Each notebook has a distinctly different cover feel. The Moleskine cover seems thin and rather hard in texture. The Pen & Ink has a softer, more leather-like feel– I assume it’s not real leather, but it feels like it could be. When I first touched it, I involuntarily said “ooh!” I can imagine it getting scratched and dented easily.
The Derwent has a suede-like cover with a bit of nap to it. You can see the light reflected differently if you draw stripes in the cover with your finger.
The HandBook journal is cloth-bound, which I also find has a nice “touch” to it. It’s hard to describe, but the HandBook, Pen & Ink and Derwent books all feel a bit more “warm” than the “cold,” hard Moleskine.
One thing I really don’t like about the Derwent journal is its contrasting beige elastic– to me, it’s just ugly. They could have at least made it a nicer color if not black! The HandBook journal has an unusual elastic– I’m not sure what it’s made of but it seems to be woven of a couple of different materials, including some kind of clear fibers. It seems durable and I’ve used a couple of these books now without the elastic ever seeming to loosen, but I can’t say I’m crazy about the look– it seems a bit too high-tech-looking to go with such a traditional cloth binding.
Each notebook has the brand embossed on the back, similar to a Moleskine:
As for ribbon markers, all these notebooks are pretty similar in terms of material– the Pen & Ink and Derwent have slightly thinner ribbons which strike me as being less likely to unravel than a Moleskine’s. I LOVE the orange marker in the HandBook journal, and though the material seems identical to that of a Moleskine, the ends are sealed off so they don’t unravel, and the marker is slightly shorter so it doesn’t flap around too much at the bottom.
As for color, obviously these are all black but the Derwent also comes in a beige color (with a contrasting black elastic), while the HandBook comes in pleasing shades of blue, red and green (all with orange markers). The Moleskine and Pen & Ink sketchbooks only come in black.
So based on exteriors alone, does any of these notebooks emerge as a clear winner? No, and it all depends on your taste anyway. While the Pen & Ink journal gives the impression of good quality, it may seem a little too soft for daily use, and it’s ever so slightly larger than the others due to the cover overhang. The Derwent’s suede can pick up a lot of lint and crumbs and that beige elastic really bothers me. I think the Moleskine and HandBook win for me, even though they are quite different from each other. If I had to pick just one based on appearance alone, I think the Handbook is my favorite though I’d trade its strange two-tone elastic in for a plainer one.
In the next part of this review, I’ll open up these notebooks and look at what’s inside!
Andrew Motion, the poet laureate of Britain, was interviewed recently and I noticed this remark:
My notebooks are Ordning & Reda from Selfridges — blank pages for poetry, lined for prose.
I’d never heard of Ordning & Reda so I had to investigate, of course! Here’s their website: www.ordning-reda.com. Now is it just me or is their website really dumb? The “notebooks” tab features lots of images but when you click through, there’s not much info.
Take, for instance, the “Notebook Basic– Black” at the upper left. Looks like it comes in 3 sizes, but when you click through, it just tells you it’s A4 size.
No link to the other available sizes, and no actual measurements for those of us in countries where the term “A4” tends not to be used. (See here for a chart of paper sizes.) There’s not much other info: it doesn’t even tell you whether the paper is lined or not. There’s something else called “Notebook Basic– Black” further down the page, but it’s a different kind of notebook, not spiral bound, and again seems to only offer one size rather than the two pictured.
I lose patience fast with things like this– this company looks like they could have some nice products but for me anyway, I don’t think they’re nice enough to be worth the hassle!
I guess it’s better than eating a pint of Haagen Dazs!
See, when most girls are upset they buy themselves ice cream, candy, clothing, shoes…anything of that sort, but when I’m upset, the best way to cheer myself up is to hang out in the nearest notebook aisle in a local store and just splurge on notebooks and journals of all sizes and colors. Then, when I think I really deserve to be treated like a princess, I throw a pack of shiny new pens in the cart as well.
[link]
I bought a set of Moleskine Volant notebooks recently. I had ordered something else from Amazon and needed to tack something on to get that free shipping, so I figured what the heck! But now I’m not sure what to do with them!
They’re nice notebooks– much more substantial than the Cahiers: sturdier, smoother cover and a proper spine, even if they’re lacking a pocket in the back. The colored ones are rather attractive, but as usual, I just went for black. They remind me of a passport or an old bank book. I wonder how the cover will stand up to use, given there’s no elastic– until they’re broken in, I think opening the cover and folding it flat will leave it sticking up open afterwards.
But back to the usage dilemma. I’m currently using two Moleskines and a HandBook sketchbook:
I previously was using a Moleskine sketchbook as the journal, but I decided it was a waste of the thicker paper so I moved to the regular plain paper. Once I’m done with the softcover Moleskine, which should be soon, I will just use the one plain hardcover notebook for all the lists and notes, in addition to the journal entries. I feel a little weird about mixing the two types of uses, but we’ll see how it goes. I do kind of like the idea of having one notebook that captures absolutely everything that is going on in my life other than the drawings.
Given all this, I’m thinking I could use the Volants for narrower topics. Perhaps one could capture all my notes relating to my job, which I don’t really need to mix with personal stuff. Another use might be to dedicate one to my French lessons, for jotting down vocabulary. I also had an idea about binding the Volants together to make some sort of multi-section Moleskine, but that seems like a waste– I’d rather use Cahiers for that.
Anyone else out there using Volants? How do you like them compared to the Cahiers?
Chronicle Books, the US distributor of Moleskine, is having a contest:
In celebration of creativity and imagination, Moleskine is looking for readers to share photos and comments about their Moleskines. Email pictures of what’s in your Moleskine to webmaster@chroniclebooks.com with the subject line “MOLESKINE.â€
Five submissions will be randomly selected to receive a Free Moleskine Pack of Notebooks. The pack will include a Pocket Ruled Notebook, a Pocket Sketchbook and a Pack of Plain Kraft Pocket Cahiers.