Category Archives: books

Review: Ex Libris Anonymous Book Cover Journals

I was contacted several months ago by Jacob Deatherage, the owner of Ex Libris Anonymous,  a small company based in Portland, Oregon who make journals by hand using old recycled books. When I agreed to accept a couple of samples for review, I had no idea I’d get this large batch! First of all, I … Continue reading Review: Ex Libris Anonymous Book Cover Journals

In Praise of Notebook and Pen for Creative Writing

I enjoyed this article, which makes some great observations about writing in notebooks vs. on a computer, or even a typewriter: Everything I’ve ever written was composed in notebooks first. I have hundreds of them filled with my scribbles tucked away in boxes. I also buy them obsessively, so I probably have just as many … Continue reading In Praise of Notebook and Pen for Creative Writing

Review: Penguin Notebook

For a few years now, I’ve come across online mentions of these very cool Penguin notebooks, but had never figured out where to buy one in the US. But a few months ago, when I was attending BookExpo America for my day job, I happened to wander through the Penguin booth and stopped when I … Continue reading Review: Penguin Notebook

Moleskine Monday: 61 Ways

Gabriel Campanario is the Seattle Sketcher I featured a few weeks ago in this post. He’s also the founder of Urban Sketchers, and was interviewed for a Japanese book called 61 Ways to Put Your Life into a Moleskine: Yoko Nakamuta, who knows how much some urban sketchers love their Moleskines, invited me to write … Continue reading Moleskine Monday: 61 Ways

Drawn In: A Peek Inside Favorite Artists’ Private Sketchbooks

Drawn In: A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists is the latest addition to my growing collection of books featuring artists’ sketchbooks, notebooks and journals. It’s always inspiring to see the best of what people create in notebooks, and to learn what kinds of notebooks they prefer. … Continue reading Drawn In: A Peek Inside Favorite Artists’ Private Sketchbooks

Moleskine Monday: A Review of “Niche” by James Harkin

A few months ago, I posted a link to a book called Niche, by James Harkin. I’d noticed the book because it includes a chapter about Moleskine… and then the book’s author noticed my post and kindly offered to send me a copy to review! With the subtitle “Why the Market No Longer Favours the … Continue reading Moleskine Monday: A Review of “Niche” by James Harkin

Dispatches from our Readers

Catching up on some more reader correspondence! From Carol: You probably already know about this—the Voynich manuscript—but I was looking at some cool pictures on National Geographic and thinking about how, really, it’s just someone’s very beautiful notebook! And I’ve crossed the line into custom-made—this week Staples is making three wire-o-bound graph paper notebooks in a … Continue reading Dispatches from our Readers