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!
This Fringe Magazine article shares a title with, and quotes from one of my favorite Joan Didion essays, “On Keeping a Notebook.” In her essay, Didion says she doesn’t keep a notebook as any kind of attempt to record the facts of her daily life or to fossilize the events of the world around her. … Continue reading On “On Keeping a Notebook”
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
From Affinity, by Sarah Waters, a dark and moody novel of psychological suspense set in the Victorian era: I saw her looking at the pictures I have pinned at the side of my desk, and then at this book. I had closed the covers, but had my pen between the pages to keep the place. … Continue reading A Victorian Journal Full of Dark Thoughts
I’ve been wanting to check these out for a while, and it seems they are finally more widely available. I picked up a set of 3 small dotted notebooks at Paper Presentation on West 18th St. in NYC. They also had the large size, and ruled and plain paper versions in both sizes. I’ve read … Continue reading Kikkerland WritersBlok Notebooks Now Available
A WikiHow page on “How to Keep a Notebook:” Step 1: Decide the purpose for your notebook. Will you write down your inventions? Will you write ideas for the screenplay, novel, poems you will someday write? Will you write down thoughts and ideas related to a particular project? Or do you simply want to have … Continue reading How To Keep a Notebook
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…
Found at Archives Tragic: …she describes her life-long diary and note-keeping habits, and the shelves of “battered old notebooks stuffed with inconsequential factoids†that have accumulated as a result. She never opens the notebooks once they are finished, but can’t bring herself to destroy them either. From a review of The Feel of Steel, by … Continue reading “Old Notebooks Stuffed With Inconsequential Factoids”
I bought a set of Moleskine Volant notebooks recently. I had ordered something else from Amazon and needed to tack something on to get that free shipping, so I figured what the heck! But now I’m not sure what to do with them! They’re nice notebooks– much more substantial than the Cahiers: sturdier, smoother cover … Continue reading Moleskine Volant Notebooks
The New York Times recently published a review of an exhibition called “Women of Letters,” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The article focused on Irene Nemirovsky, author of the bestselling Suite Française. Here are two photos featuring the notebook she used to write a draft of the novel before her tragic death in Auschwitz. … Continue reading Irene Nemirovsky’s Notebook