Last weekend, I read a wonderful novel called Andorra, by Peter Cameron. It’s elegantly and beautifully written, with some lush descriptions, including this scene, which takes place right at the beginning of the book, just after the narrator has arrived to start his new life in Andorra: I decided to visit the stationers. The front … Continue reading The Euphoria of Buying a Journal: Andorra, by Peter Cameron
What would you expect to find in Jack Kerouac’s notebooks? Probably not this: Jack Kerouac — Mr. On the Road, the King of the Beats, who begat the beatniks who begat the hippies who begat the hipsters — Jack Kerouac, the fountainhead of cool — that Jack Kerouac was obsessed with — guess what. Freedom? … Continue reading Jack Kerouac’s Notebooks: Not What You’d Think!
Here’s a quote from one of the best books I’ve read recently, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery. We went on to discuss the definition of intelligence and he asked me if he could write down my formula in his moleskine notebook: “It is not a sacred gift, it is a primate’s only … Continue reading A Notebook in “The Elegance of the Hedgehog”
Here’s a notebook belonging to the Irish writer Colm Toibin, whose latest novel, “Brooklyn,” has just been published: He wrote “Brooklyn†while teaching at Stanford, and this spring, in little more than a month, he turned out two book reviews and a 10,000-word short story, the first thing he has written on a computer. He … Continue reading Colm Toibin’s Notebook
This is very cool, a bookworm’s dream! I wonder if Amazon realized that their re-design of the Kindle would make it the same size as the larger Moleskines! According to the measurements on Amazon, the Kindle2 is 5.3 x 8 x.36 inches. A large Moleskine is 5.2 x 8.2 x .7 inches. So you’d have … Continue reading Moleskine + Kindle2 = Neat-o!
I like the look of this forthcoming book! What a beautiful cover. The Blue Notebook is not available until July 2009, but here’s a teaser: An unforgettable, deeply affecting tribute to the powers of imagination and the resilience of childhood, The Blue Notebook tells the story of Batuk, a precocious 15-year-old girl from rural India … Continue reading The Blue Notebook, by James Levine
I was in a store recently where a book called The Wednesday Sisters was a staff pick. I was struck by the cover image, which features a diary and a fountain pen. There is always something so nice about the look of handwritten words on a page…