Cahiers

"Fancy"

"I allowed myself to be suckered into purchasing them because I decided they would get me to write things other than stuffy academic essays. In Hemingway's "The Garden of Eden", the male lead is repeatedly referred to as writings his stories in "cahiers," using wooden pencils from the box of them he locks in his suitcase with his stash of cahiers..."

Our friend John writes about his new Cahiers. Visit his blog, Pragmatik.

Comments

[Stephen]

I like your enjoyment of wooden pencils. They do suit the cahiers perfectly.

Since my pocket notebook is for instant jots, notes and reminders, can I make this distinction? I found that I "take" notes in the cahiers; but I "make" notes in the volant.

Somehow the making of notes seems more historic, and for those of us who prefer to welcome the Muse when she comes, I prefer to honour her visits with the smarter black (albeit dog-eared) recorder. When full, the volant are more permanent on my shelf with my diaries.

I have a notebook in my pocket all the time, and volants and cahiers are the right size, thickness and flexibility. Many times I have been asked "where's your Palm (or whatever)?" and I love the looks I get when I get out the black pocketbook. (If I have to show off, I just leave my cellphone beside it...)

For this reason I don't like the cahiers (but they have their place - eg business mileage etc). I make a mess in them, and when full and dog-eared, they are just old scruffy notebooks, not old friends.

Of the two, I prefer the Volants. Of all notebooks, I prefer the original Moleskine pocket-sized... After all, one's "little black book" isn't the same if it's not black...