Posts filed under Notebook Reviews

Nolty Asymmetry A5 Notebook Review

Nolty Asymmetry A5 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

I know it's not just me, but my plans tend to start out a wee bit chaotic. Part outline, part list, part mind-map, maybe even a few cryptic scribbles, with some sketchnotes marginalia. Basically, my early drafts of plans look like the inside of my brain. Scary! One way I can help wrangle them is with inventions like this--a multi-format notebook.

The Nolty Asymmetry Notebook has 6 mm lined pages on the left and dot-grid pages on the right. My thoughts don't have to be corralled into one set of lines. I can write and outline on the left and sketch and map on the right. Yes, I could do that on any paper. But having the page mapped that way to begin with helps free my mind. There's flexibility, while still having some guidelines to keep the page from looking like it's having a little menty b.

Nolty Asymmetry A5 Notebook

The split format is also great for meeting or class notes. Take your notes on one side, and use the other for follow-up thoughts or questions. Make a to-do list on the lines, and create a calendar on the grid. Draw a map to buried treasure on one side, and list the clues on the other. The possibilities are endless! The pages are also numbered, so it's easy to index and track your thoughts.

Nolty Asymmetry A5 Notebook Corner

The notebook itself is well-made. It has a textured cardstock cover that is firm enough to support the pages, but slim enough to be portable. It can also fit easily into A5 notebook covers. There are 88 sheets (176 pages) of Nolty's ivory paper. This was my first time trying Nolty paper, and I was impressed. It's fountain pen friendly and handles a variety of inks very well. Sharpie and Retro 51 had some bleeding and show-through, but other inks worked very well. The paper is thicker and more toothy than Tomoe River, but crisper than Cosmo Air Light paper, reminding me a lot of Midori paper--which is one of my top favorites. I will definitely seek out more Nolty paper in the future.

Nolty Asymmetry A5 Notebook Writing

The A5 cardstock notebooks cost $16. They also make planners and horizontal notebooks. The prices are quite good, especially considering the quality of the paper. Midori's A5 notebooks are around the same price--just a dollar less expensive, though with a handful more pages. I do like the construction and binding of Midori a bit better, but I prefer this Nolty layout.

Nolty Asymmetry A5 Notebook Writing Back

I've mentioned before that I use two notebooks for writing a novel--one for planning, and one to draft the novel itself. With this layout and that price point, these are ideal for that purpose. This has become my "I'm going to stock up on these and use them for the foreseeable future" planning notebook. Granted, I have said this about other notebooks before, and have yet to extinguish those stockpiles... but there are always more plans to plan! And anything that helps curb the chaos is welcome.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Nolty Asymmetry A5 Notebook Cover
Posted on February 20, 2025 and filed under Nolty, Notebook Reviews.

Sunny Light A6 Slim Notebook Review

Sunny Light A6 Slim 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Gosh, but I love a good purse notebook. Can you ever have too many? No, you cannot, and this one is a total winner. A purse notebook, for me, is something more robust than a pocket notebook, but still wee and portable. They're perfect for commonplace books, travel journals, meeting notes, or any purpose on-the-go.

Sunny Light A6 Slim Notebook

The Sunny Light Notebook is really two pieces: The PVC cover and the notebook insert. The PVC cover is smooth and minimal, with just a small logo debossed at the bottom front. It has a built-in faux leather strip bookmark, a pen loop, and an elastic band to help keep the book closed. The cover is shaped to make all of these pieces fit together in a neat package, with space carved out to make room for the pen. Inside, the cover has folder pockets for the notebook insert to slide into. This cover is in a pale green color, and it's also available in yellow, white, blue, pink, and brown. It comes with a small sheet of label stickers.

Sunny Light A6 Slim Notebook Inside

The cover is perfect for a portable notebook. The PVC is waterproof and durable, so it can survive the inside of even the most chaotic tote bag. The pen loop is on the narrow side, but it can fit a skinny gel pen, or function as a clip loop for any clip pen.

Sunny Light A6 Slim Notebook Index

The notebook insert is particularly nice. It's a fairly slim book, but it holds a whopping 160 pages (80 sheets) of Tomoe River S paper. Six of those pages are devoted to a numbered index, and the rest of the pages are numbered and have 2.5 mm grid layout. Not everyone will want to write on both sides of the page, though. While the paper is magically bleed-resistant, there is a bit of ghosting with these thin sheets. It's not enough to bother me, personally, but if you prefer broad nibs and dark inks, it might be an issue for you. It's still a decent number of pages, even if you only use one side.

Sunny Light A6 Slim Notebook Writing
Sunny Light A6 Slim Notebook Writing Back

The notebook (cover and insert) costs $24, with refills costing $8.25. I think both of those prices are fair. It's also worth noting that while the overall notebook is A6 Slim, the insert is extremely similar in size to Field Notes (off by only a tenth of an inch), and the cover is compatible with them. If you happen to have a stack of Field Notes hanging around (don't we all?), this cover would be a snazzy way to transport them.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

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Sunny Light A6 Slim Notebook Back
Posted on February 13, 2025 and filed under Sunny Light, Notebook Reviews.

Maruman Utöka Pocket Notebook Review

Maruman Utöka Pocket Notebook Review

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

My philosophy when it comes to notebooks is that there's always room for one more. This philosophy is in direct conflict the lack of adequate storage for the notebooks or enough time to fill them all. But, for better or worse, the philosophy of never turning down a new notebook always wins.

The Maruman Utöka Pocket notebook is the latest notebook to find a home in my collection. This is a small spiral-bound notebook with 80 sheets of 4mm graph paper, and 10 sheets of lined "list" paper at the back. All 90 sheets are perforated, making them easy and clean to tear out. And, these sheets are made of 70gsm paper that works really well with all types of writing instruments. Fun fact about the name: Utöka means "expand" or "extend" in Swedish.

Despite this notebook looking like a top-bound steno-style book, it's laid out to be used with the binding on the side. In practice, it's like using a standard A5 notebook that's been sliced in half. I actually like having the extra horizontal space instead of the typical vertical space you get with most notebook orientations.

Since "pocket" is part of the name for this notebook, you might assume that it can fit in something like, say, a pocket, but you'd be wrong! It is a small notebook, but there aren't many pockets that will hold it. At a total size of 107 x 163mm (4.2 x 6.4 inches), it's very portable, but not pocketable. For most people, a pocket notebook is something around 3.5 x 5.5 inches. It's just barely too big to work well with pockets.

The usable sheet dimensions are close the A6 size (105 x 148mm) at 107 x 142mm, meaning there's plenty of space to let your ideas and sketches breathe. The 4mm grid also provides lots of structure while also disappearing if you want to freeform.

Maruman Utöka Pocket Notebook Back Page

Maruman paper is always a delight to use, but most of my experience with their paper is in their Mnemosyne line. With the Utöka notebook, they use a little lighter paper, but it still performs well. It's done great with all the pens and inks I've thrown at it. There's a small amount of show-through when using some inks, but it's not enough to make the back of the page unusable. There's no feathering or bleeding or other weird ink behaviors to speak of. It's a consistent paper that works really well.

Maruman Utöka Pocket Notebook Pencil

The covers of this notebook are a sturdy cardstock material with a glossy coating on the exterior faces. The covers should stand up to minor wear and tear, but I'd expect to see plenty of bends and deterioration with lots of use. Likewise, the double-wire binding is really sturdy, and I love that they've colored the wire a nice gray to complement the color of the cover.

At $7.75, the Maruman Utöka Pocket notebook is a good value. It's perfect for jotting down notes, sketching out ideas, and throwing into a bag to carry along. While it's not a true pocket notebook, it's still very portable and up to the challenge of being a notebook you carry frequently. Plus, if the yellow isn't quite your thing, there are four other accent colors available! You can pick from yellow, red, navy, light green, and light blue.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Maruman Utöka Pocket Notebook Cover
Posted on January 15, 2025 and filed under Maruman, Notebook Reviews.