Posts filed under Notebook Reviews

Odyssey B5 Notebook Review

(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!)

272 pages of lay-flat-bound, original, 68 gsm Tomoe River paper in a vegan leather, hardbound, space-themed cover. That's it; that's the review.

Okay, a bit more detail, just for fun.

Odyssey Notebooks caught my attention entirely based on their looks. They're gorgeous notebooks with elegant, understated designs that are fun and interesting. This Saturn cover has the ringed planet lightly debossed in silver foil on a cream-colored vegan leather. The hard cover is thick and sturdy with rounded edges. There is an elastic band to hold the book closed.

Inside, the endpapers are grey-brown with light grey constellations. There's an accordion pocket inside the back cover, and the spine has two satin ribbon bookmarks--one gold and one a champagne color. There's a title page with room for personal information, followed by all those good Tomoe pages. Each page is numbered, with a dot grid in light grey. It's enough guide to use it as lined or grid, but faint enough to disappear if you want to treat the page as blank. The B5 size is perhaps my favorite size for writing. It's big enough to let your ideas spread out, to keep a lot of information visible at once, or to let a mind map of ideas run wild, but it's still small enough to fit in a purse or mini backpack.

The paper may not need a review, especially as it's becoming harder and harder to find, but it's wonderful. Light, crisp, and impervious to anything you throw at it. Not even the Sharpie dotted through, though darker inks do show some ghosting. It really is the perfect paper, and as much as I'm enjoying the quest to find one I like just as much (which involves using lots and lots of notebooks), I still haven't found anything that's its equal.

Odyssey has a number of notebooks in various sizes, colors, page counts, and designs, some with this wonderful paper, others with paper for artists. There are even softcover varieties. Designs range from space themes to mythological figures. This particular notebook sells for $38, which I would consider to be on the pricier side for a notebook, but I can certainly see how the quality of this item has resulted in a higher cost. It's a reasonable asking price for what you get. But I wouldn't wait, if you want the same paper experience. No doubt the notebooks will still be excellent with whatever paper replaces the TR when it runs out--every feature of this notebook is lovely, paper aside--but this incarnation is too good to miss.

(Brad purchased this notebook at full retail from Lemur Ink at the 2022 Atlanta Pen Show.)

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Posted on September 1, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Odyssey, Notebook Reviews.

Rhodia GoalBook - A Quick Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Ok, after my last not-so-quick “quick recap” of the DC pen show, I pinky swear this article will hold true to its title. (Disclaimer: “quick” for me means less than 1500 words, lol)

A #askTPA question came up recently where a listener was looking for notebooks for bullet journaling with white and not cream paper. My ears perked up because I had an answer and was yelling at the phone when the episode came on. The Rhodia GoalBook comes in white paper!

What is the Rhodia GoalBook? It is Rhodia’s contribution to the bullet journaling market. It is a notebook with numbered pages, an index and more. The notebook features 240 pages (224 of which are numbered), an elastic band to keep the notebook closed, a pocket in the back cover, and 2 ribbon bookmarks. There are 6 pages for Contents/Index) and two different undated calendars to help with planning/important dates. Until 2020, Rhodia only made the GoalBook with cream paper. Now it is available in white and cream paper in a wide variety of notebook colors. I bought my white paper GoalBooks in 2020 and 2021 from Cult Pens in the UK because they were the only place that had them when they first came out.

The paper in the GoalBook isn’t the same as what you’d find in their dotPad, but rather the 90gsm Rhodia R paper which is a bit nicer. The paper is fairly fountain pen friendly, but it can feather with wet inks or flex nibs. In general though, there is minimal ghosting and bleeding with most fountain pen nibs and inks and I rarely have to worry about ink dry times.

I am currently using the white GoalBook, but I took an old cream GoalBook to duplicate my Currently Inked log. Note that the colors of some of the inks on the cream pages may be a little different due to the pens being inked longer than when I made the entries on the white pages (some were light due to needing a slight dip in water or were darker due to evaporation in feed).

*Quite a bit more ghosting and bleedthrough on cream.*

As you can see, with most of the pens, the papers behaved similarly but for some inks/nibs, the cream paper feathered or bled through more than the white paper. I don’t see any difference in the paper (besides the color) but the white paper feels smoother and a touch more coated than the cream, which would explain why it behaves a bit better, but folks who dislike coated paper may not like the white paper as much as the cream.

The Rhodia Goalbook is available in soft cover or hard bound, comes in dot grid or graph (though not all colors/options are available in graph) and of course, with cream or white paper. Some versions have an attached pen loop (I haven’t yet figured out why some do and some don’t). Cult Pens’ prices for the GoalBook range from $22-29 USD (or £21-27 GBP with VAT) though you may be able to find the white paper GoalBook elsewhere in the states these days.

One last thing, my bullet journal is very much a functional one that I don’t spend a lot of time making it pretty or for Instagram posts (though I occasionally post some matchy match pen/ink to-do lists). This means that it doesn’t bother me too much if the paper ghosts or feathers from time to time. The fast dry time, coupled with the index, numbered pages and now with white paper makes it my go-to bullet journal notebook. (I’m currently on GoalBook #7, books #1-5 have cream pages and #6-7 have white.) So if you’re looking for a generally fountain pen friendly bullet journal option with white paper, give the Rhodia GoalBook a try.

PS - Less than 1000 words - I consider that a success!

(Disclaimer: All products have been purchased by me. The GoalBooks with white pages were purchased from Cult Pens and the cream ones were purchased from both Cult Pens and Lemur Ink.)

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Posted on August 26, 2022 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Rhodia, GoalBook, Notebook Reviews.

Apuntes Jute Fresa Lomo Turquesa Notebook

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Another day, another notebook. At least that's how it feels sometimes when I look at my desk. Despite having too many notebooks, I sincerely think that each one of them has a unique and justified purpose. And that's what makes me so sure that there's no harm in trying even more notebooks in the future. The latest notebook to cross my messy desk is the Apuntes Jute — a semi-A5 soft cover notebook that sports a handmade feel and colorful spine. This notebook is made by imakenotebooks out of Mexico City.

Looking at the specs, this notebook measures in at 130 x 206 mm, or 5 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches. The true A5 size is 148 x 210 mm, so there's a little variance there. Luckily, the Apuntes notebook is smaller, meaning it should fit in any A5-sized portfolios or bags. Aside from that, the notebook sports a light dot grid pattern on the 90 gsm ivory paper. There are 120 pages that are sewn bound with a lovely turquoise fabric covering the spine. The construction and quality of materials that make this notebook are incredibly well done. The stiff covers offer plenty of protection and structure while also looking nice when paired with the turquoise spine.

In the back of the notebook, there's a hefty paper envelope glued to the back cover. Even though the notebook pages aren't removable, this envelope has plenty of space for storing a lot of mementos, cash, and other small things that you pick up throughout the day.

The rounded corners of the notebook make it easy to slide in and out of bags — there aren't sharp corners to get caught on fabric. The branding on the front of the notebook is a little verbose, but I think it adds to the aesthetic. It states the specifications of the product while also listing the product name. Aside from the text on the front cover, there is zero markings anywhere else.

The notebook states that the paper is 90 gsm, which is very similar to what Leuchtturm1917 (and many others) use in their notebooks. The paper has a great feel on my fingers, and it also has a very noticeable tooth when writing. It's not as smooth as Leuchtturm or Rhodia, but the added texture and feedback is really nice in certain situations. As long as you know what to expect, this can be an excellent quality. For me, I like a little less tooth on the paper when using fountain pens, but it doesn't hamper my use at all — it just takes a few seconds to adjust when I'm used to writing on smoother, glossy paper.

The various inks and pens I used in this notebook all behaved well. Nothing bled or feathered, but there was a significant amount of show-through on the back of the page. If you're using a fountain pen or a liquid roller ball with this paper, you may not be able to use both sides of the page. This will mostly depend on your nib/ink choices, but you probably already know if a particular pen or ink combo shows through paper more than others. In general, this paper performs well when compared to my expectations from other similarly weighted paper.

The soft feel of the covers, the tactile texture of the fabric spine, and the visual contract of the dull red covers and contrasting turquoise binding really draw me to this notebook. As an added bonus, the paper performs well for the vast majority of my use cases. At $24.50, the Apuntes Jute is a little more expensive than comparable offerings from larger manufacturers, but that doesn't mean it's over-priced. The quality, materials, and end product all line up with the price. If it strikes your fancy, it won't disappoint.

(Brad purchased this product from Amarillo Stationery at regular retail price.)

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