I’m a writer by trade; so I tend to horde notebooks. And yet tonight to my chagrin I found that I didn’t have a single empty one to use for class in the morning.
I found this funny– I think I can safely say I have never found myself in this situation! Running out of notebooks? Never!!
I stopped by a Borders store in Southbury, Connecticut this weekend, and look what I saw:
Barnes & Noble isn’t the only chain bookstore offering some exclusive Moleskine items– Borders offers this “brick,” a lined notebook bundled with 2 cahiers:
This display of journals was quite attractive. I tend to use mainly plain black journals, but these colorful designs are a bit funkier than others I’ve seen. I might have been tempted to buy some, but they tended to be a bit larger than my preferred size:
There were a number of notebooks and journals on the markdown shelf– pictured here are some Ciak notebooks, and there were also a few Moleskine watercolor notebooks.
The main reason I stopped at Borders was to see if they were carrying the Picadilly notebooks reviewed at Black Cover. Black Cover had suggested that Barnes & Noble was the big Moleskine supporter and that was why Borders was going with Picadilly, but I think both big chains are equally in bed with Moleskine. Borders had a large Moleskine shelf presence, including all the regular notebook styles, a number of planner styles and the custom package above, and this store, as well as another Borders I visited recently, had no Picadilly notebooks in the stationery section. But on my way out, I did spot a few large format Picadilly notebooks right by the front door, displayed with all the bargain-priced books. I’m not surprised they ended up there, given the very low prices: I didn’t get a photo but the large Picadilly notebook was priced at only $5.99!
Here’s someone who has re-covered her Copenhagen City Notebook. If scenes of notebook destruction make you squeamish, beware! But the end result is quite nice, if you are someone who gets bored by plain black covers:
Head on over to Black Cover to enter the contest to win some samples of the Picadilly notebooks, a low-priced Moleskine alternative.
Enter by October 30th!
Biffybeans has a review of an interesting travel journal.
Although I’m sure this is a great product for some people, I was somewhat turned off by the highly formatted nature of the pages:
Sometimes it’s nice to be prompted to enter certain data, but for the most part, I think I am more of a free-form person, and would prefer to just take my own notes about places I visit. These pages, for me, would probably have too little space for “grub and grog” and too much space for “recommended guidebook” etc. It would end up just being messy and inefficient.
Do you ever use notebooks that are pre-formatted with spaces for specific information, or do you prefer to use totally blank books?
How true this is:
A simple, quality notebook can give you just as much of a buzz as owning the latest iPhone, Palm, Blackberry or other device.
How to rank your Moleskine addiction at Put Things Off.
I found this fascinating: The Paper Version of the Web. I love seeing the way people think out concepts on paper, especially things like websites, which to me seem almost too fluid and flickering to nail down that way.
I like the look of these Canteo notebooks, featured at Notebookism. Too bad they only seem to be available in Switzerland!
There’s lots of discussion amongst Moleskine fans about which pens are best for use on Moleskine paper. Here’s the most exhaustive list of pen reviews I’ve found, at a blog called Sandscribbler. The author’s favorites:
- Uni-ball Signo RT 0.38
The best Moleskine pen that I’ve found so far.- Pilot G-2 05 and the
Uni-ball Signo 207 Micro 0.5
Very nice alternative pens, if a .38 feels too “scratchy†to you. You can’t go wrong with either one.- Uni-ball Signo 207
The tip on this pen is a bit wide for me for everyday use, but I love using this pen when writing my signature.
I picked up a Pilot G-2 05 and a Uniball Signo 207 Micro. Of the two, I personally prefer the Uniball by far. I found that the Pilot would often skip in my Moleskine, unless I was pressing down harder than I usually do when writing. But I don’t think either of these pens beats my longtime favorite, the Uniball Onyx Micro.
An Etsy seller is making little matchbook-like notebooks as samples to promote her line of journals– very cute!
