Ah, the Moleskine. Before I owned one, I wondered what the big deal was. Then last year I got two (one Large and one Small), and now my favorite part of every day is taking a few notes just before bed. I will absolutely buy another Large Ruled Moleskine when that bedside journal is full.

The Moleskine comes in a few different flavors (Large/Small, Ruled/Squared/Plain), but all with hard covers and a nice elastic strap to hold it closed. They’re quite durable: I keep the Small one in my back pocket at all times, so I’m constantly sitting on it, and it took six months for it to lose a single page. It is looking a little beat up now, but considering the abuse I heap on it, the rest of the pages are hanging in there quite well.

Since getting a Moleskine, I’ve started to notice that tell-tale elastic strap everywhere, and it doesn’t surprise me anymore when I tell a friend about some cool book they should read and they whip out their Moleskine. With its plain black cover, the Moleskine is so understated and simple, that I just wouldn’t have noticed until I had one of my own. I feel like I inducted myself into some kind of reasonable Moleskine club.

They are a little expensive; at $15 apiece, the Moleskine probably does not make for a good notebook or scratch paper. But after years of taking down my personal thoughts in $2 spiral-bound college notebooks, I can personally attest to the difference in quality of the journaling I do now. Many details are just taken care of, and I didn’t even know these things were important. Even the size, which I initially thought would be too small (the Large is about three-quarters the size of standard US Letter), is perfect.

The Reasonable choice is Large Ruled, for writing; artists will prefer Large Plain for sketching. I’m sure the Small, Squared, and/or specialty Moleskines fill other niches quite reasonably, but unless you know why you want it to be Small or Squared, just get the Large Ruled. You can always buy another one later.

Saul :: May.06.2008 :: Journal :: 1 Comment »