Moleskine Ruled Notebook (13 x 21cm)

K have to say how utterly delighted I am with these little wonders. My friend had both the large and the pocket version of these and I was so jealous when he took them out to write notes on!!

Ended up getting a pocket one as a Christmas present and I am more than happy with it.

first thing you'll notice is how well made it is, the binding is wonderful, its small enough to fit in your back pocket but not too small to be awkward to write on and there's even a little pocket on the inside back cover for you to store separate little sheets!!

Think I'm definitely going to purchase another one soon!!

It's a great notebook, it really is. The creamy coloured paper is of very high quality, and the lines are spaced perfectly. Some people prefer the lines spaced further apart, but the lines in this book are quite narrow which is perfect for me.

The soft cover isn't really what I was expecting though. It's really quite thin. I was expecting a more soft feel hard cover I guess... I couldn't really tell what it was going to be like from the rubbish pictures which Moleskine use and the lack of any description from Amazon. The cover would be great on a pocket notebook, but this one is a bit big to fit in your pocket, and so doesn't really need the soft cover. The cover also bends where the elastic strap goes around the cover which leaves it distorted and a little messy looking for such an expensive notebook which is disappointing.

Moleskine make some great books, and this is a great book, but I think the cover lets it down a little compared with the hard cover ones. My next Moleskine will definitely have a hard cover.

I was looking for a journal/notebook and arrived at a shortlist of two: this one and the Ciak large black notebook, so bought one of each. This is a comparative review of the two, which I hope you will find useful.

The notebooks are very similar, both black, both the same height, but with the Ciak being about 15mm wider. They have about the same number of pages, but the paper in the Ciak is thicker and heavier, so the book is thicker, and weighs in at 481g compared to the Moleskine's 346g (on my kitchen scales). I have written in both of them with a fountain pen (fine nib) and found that, even with the thinner paper of the Moleskine, the writing surface is good and the ink does not bleed through to the other side of the paper. Both notebooks are lined, the lines being of a similar colour and thickness. However, the lines in the Moleskine extend to the edge of the paper so that they are visible down the edge of the book when it is shut, whereas the lines in the Ciak do not. The space between the lines is virtually identical, with the Moleskine squeezing in 31 lines per page to the Ciak's 30. The Moleskine has a stiff cover, whereas the Ciak's is soft and felxible. The Moleskine has its famous pocket at the back, which the Ciak does not. The Moleskine has a vertical elastic closure, whereas the Ciak has a horizontal one. Both have sturdy bindings, but I found the Moleskine easier to use because it opens wider and stays flat under my hand as I write. The Ciak resists being opened to the full 180 degrees, so is more of a struggle to use. Last but not least, on current prices the Moleskine is a fair bit cheaper, worth considering if you're going to get through a lot of them.

Which is best? Depends on what you want. If you want something that is beautiful and sensuous, then the Ciak wins. The more practical among us would probably prefer the Moleskine. I've now got two notebooks with only a page used in each, so it will be a while before I need to buy another. I may change my mind in the meantime, but for now I think it will be Moleskine for me. So you may also wish to consider the Moleskine's pedigree as the notebook of choice of van Gogh, Hemingway, Picasso, Chatwin and Williams.