Moleskine Plain Notebook Review – my first try
The old notebook is filled with my writing. As summer break started it felt perfect to switch to a new journal/diary. The old one has blank white pages and dark red cloth cover that attracts cat hairs.
The new one provides a fresh start, with blank pages to live on. A symbolic “new life” this time… It is a Moleskine plain notebook (no lines). My first, a test drive of this famous book that I’ve seen everywhere online and read so much about. It has a smooth black cover, an elastic band to close it tight and a back pocket to store important small papers.
I like how shiny and smooth the cover is. I like how it feels in my hand, and I adore the round corners of the book’s cover and each paper inside.
The pages are cream coloured (light yellow) and a bit to shiny to be perfect to write on if you ask me. I’ve decided to try to change some of my journaling habits, habits that I’ve developed unconscious during the past 20 years or so. I usually fill the pages with text, journaling before I go to sleep. Now I’ll try to add in sketches more, and glue ephemera in too. I’ll try to make the pages look pretty even though most of them nobody will ever see except me.
I’ll bring my journal with me more often, to coffee shops and on excursions. That way I’ll find new ways and places to journal on, and maybe that also will change what I write and/or think.
This is the first spread in my Moleskine journal.
I did it while waiting for my friend Lena at the coffee boat in town. A favorit place.
We had coffee in the sun and talked about writing. She is a writer and allways inspire me to write something, a book. What ever she or I talk about we end up with the thought that we should write a book about it!
Things I’ve noted about Moleskine Notebook pages:
- The pages are too “blank”, almost slippery
- They are very thin, and bleed with some pens
- It’s fun to write across a whole spread
- I like to bring my journal with me outside
- I don’t like the hype about this book, because it’s absolutely not the best I’ve used (only the only one that I bought by brand!)
- The pages are high and narrow, which makes me write smaller letters
- Best pen so far is the Pilot rollerball pen
- A fresh journal does not mean a fresh mind!
- I like best to write with black ink
I bought my Moleskine in Trondheim this spring, at a lovely bookstore where you could sit down and have coffee. This picture is taken by P, who also got a Moleskine there. I love the colours and the movement in this photo.
I love journaling
I’ve added a new tag to my growing list of categories and tags. It is called Journaling, check out the posts I added to it if you want to read more about my journaling habits, how I document life and have kept a diary all my life.
I especially want to recommend you to read my post A note on a new notebook (which is a total contradiction on the wabi-sabi-thinking, hehe) and my first entry for Studio Friday back in 2005 where I show my stack of current notebooks and journals.
More on this subject soon.
I used to be a Moleskine addict. But then, I found I wanted to work on larger paper. That, and you can’t paint very well on the pages of the sketchbook….and the pages ARE very narrow. The only one I’d use today would be a planner….and maybe not there. They’re so expensive and NOT the best; my current journal is a big sketchbook gotten on sale…and I love it to death!
Oh, I am really restrainig myself on not buying a moleskine. They’re so outrageously expensive, and I’m 100% sure that the people running all the “moleskinerie” and “moleskike love” groups on Flickr and such are from the company…sigh… I won’t last forever, I know, but in the meantime I found a great sketch book with heavy papers and a rubber band and it’s spiral, which i like better, so I’m sticking to it. :) I also love ink roller black pens, but in my journal I am now experimenting with acrylics. Tons of them. It’s lots of fun. I really like your page, and I wonder whether I could ever write/create anything in my journal outside of the comfort of my house.
I agree – the thinner pages are not the best for painting or most markers. Maybe better for pencils. I do love the size, for carry around anywhere, and they are pricey – so when I buy one it’s always like I am giving myself a present – a present I will love and use! I just bought a “watercolor” moleskine and have several others – lined pages, blank pages, and one called sketchbook that has thicker pages. Also have a couple small ones. I do not work for the company that makes them, or get money for saying these things… but they all serve their own purpose somehow.
I also have several large sketchbooks, and some medium sized sketchbooks! I love sketchbooks! Not jsut moleskines :)
I see your points, but I still love them. I think it’s the binding and the elastic closure that I love so much. I carry my journal with me almost everywhere, and it’s the only brand that’s been able to stand up to the abuse, and still not get in the way of itself when I’m writing. The only brand that comes close is Cachet.
As for the expense, per page, the journal isn’t that expensive; the other Moleskines with fewer pages are certainly pricey.
I forgot to say those are great pictures.
I’m so glad you visited my blog!
Moleskin: I used them many years ago when I was a journalist needing notebooks to write in. I don’t understand what the hype is all about, except maybe the fact that the company was bought by a U.S. company and they have promoted it to the heavens! Of course, Hemingway and Chatwin and other famous writers used the original. My favourite is the Memo pockets, a little file folder to tuck in receipts and important things as you go about your day!
xo
Hihi… ingen irritation h?r inte, bara ren gl?dje ?ver att du ?r tillbaka som fullfj?drad bloggare igen!
I don’t know which had me drooling more, the yummy journal pages or the cinnamon bun.
Great post!
Patty