(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
In library world, we often say "for every reader their book, for every book its reader," which I think also applies in the stationery world. There are few things that we can say are objectively bad--and even those things likely have their fans. This is perhaps an ominous way to begin a review, but I say it because the people I know who have used the Hightide Puggy’s Best Notebook really did not like it. And I kinda do.
Like many stationery addicts, I have a very strict (if ill-defined) standard for what I consider a "nice" notebook. And I have strict standards for the kinds of things I want to write in my nice notebooks. The problem is, not all my notebooks can be nice, or I'd never get anything done. I need notebooks that I can hold in my hands and say, "I am going to totally wreck this book and it will be okay."
The Hightide Puggy's Best Notebook is the perfect wrecking notebook. This is the notebook you'll take to the beach and write bad poetry in it, you'll take it hiking and stuff it in the same pocket as your wet raincoat, you'll duct tape the cracked spine, you'll tear out random pages, you'll even write in it while you're eating Doritos and it will be fine.
Not everyone wants a wrecking notebook, but not everyone wants a nice notebook either. Some people like wrecking nice notebooks, too. It's all good.
If you think you might be a someone who wants a notebook to wreck, this is a great choice. The small (4.13" x 5.7") has 66 sheets and the large (4.92" x 7.28") has 150 sheets of blank recycled paper. That's a generous amount of pages. They're glue-bound in large signatures along a thick spine. There is a lot of glue happening, which makes for a crispy spine, but once you crack it it does lay flat. Mine has not split, but it feels like it wants to. If it does, I'll tape it. The cover is thick kraft cardstock with attractive vintage-style labeling.
Like any recycled paper, it's not great with liquid inks. Fine fountain pens snagged on the paper fibers, broad nibs soaked through, and even the medium ones feathered. Mechanical pencils were a little snaggy, too. But it did really well with wood case pencil, gel pens, and fineliners. Rollerball ink wrote nicely, but did have some minimal show-though. Rollerball is my preferred medium for wreck-it writing, so this works well for me.
One of the most important features of a wrecking notebook, though, is the price. No one wants to really wreck something they spent a lot on. Fortunately, the small version is only $7 and the larger $15—a very good deal, in my opinion, considering the number of pages. If you're looking for a notebook that you can pick up before your lotion is dry, jot down a quick list, tear it out, and then stuff your notebook into the bottom of your mudlarking kit--this is a fantastic choice. I'm enjoying wrecking mine, and I think I'll wreck more of them in the future.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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