(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!)
The Apica CD notebooks are among my favorites for affordable quality. Bear in mind, throughout this review, that this product costs under $3. Yes, it's cheaper than a cup of coffee. But don't let the cost fool you into thinking it's flimsy. These books are nicely constructed with good durability. I've even chosen them as my official class notebooks for when I start school in the fall.
The covers are a thin, textured cardstock with a pretty printed frame design. They feel good and look elegant. The slim cardstock keeps the notebook lightweight while still providing some structure to it, which makes it perfect for school. There are enough pages for all my course notes, and I don't have to worry about it weighing down my bag or falling apart halfway through the semester. There are blank lines on the cover where you can record the contents of the book.
The notebook is thread-bound, with a sturdy sewn binding that is reinforced by cloth tape. The pages are bound in two signatures fastened together. The center of the book, where the signatures meet, lays flat. The other pages require a bit of training in order to lay flat, but they do once the spine is broken in. There are 52 sheets in the book, for a generous 104 writing pages.
The pages in this version are in 5mm grid, 81.4 gsm white paper. The paper is acid-free and can handle just about any kind of ink you throw at it. I emptied my pen cup at it, and the only thing that showed through at all was Sharpie. Even if you're writing in double-broad fountain pens and highlighting over that, you'll be able to use both sides of these pages for your writing.
I can't think of any other brand where you can get 100 A5 pages of impervious paper for under $3. Kokuyo comes close, and I love them, too--but Apica's books have slightly more pages, for slightly cheaper, with a better looking cover.
You would think, with all the notebooks I get to play with, that I would know immediately what ones I wanted to use for school, but it actually just made the decision harder. I'm satisfied with my decision, though. This notebook fits all my criteria of quality and cost.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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