Posts filed under Notebook Reviews

Write Notepads Classic Hardcover Notebook Review

Write Notepads Notebook

I'm always excited to have new products from Write Notepads on my desk, and in this case it's the Classic Hardcover notebook from The Gentlemen Stationer's shop. Write Notepads are always a favorite around here, and the Classic Hardcover is no exception.

Write Notepads is based out of Baltimore, Maryland and offer a variety of different paper products. The stationery they sell is top notch, and I always have a hard time deciding on something when it's time to place an order. It all looks interesting, and the products I've already tried keep me coming back for more. Still, I've never tried out one of their classic hard notebooks.

Write Notepads Notebook
Write Notepads Notebook

The Classic notebook is a hardbound A5 notebook with smooth, white paper, a color-coordinated bookmark, and a lovely cloth cover. The pages are numbered in the bottom outside corners, which make referencing notes easy. The smooth paper has a slight amount of feedback when writing, which makes it easy to control your pen while taking notes or sketching out ideas.

There are 160 pages of 70 lb paper in the sewn-bound notebook, and they feature a light green ink for the lines or dots used to make the ruling patterns. The corners are sharp, not rounded, but this isn't an issue since the hard binding of the notebook protects them from getting bent when in a bag.

The paper is white, smooth, and great to write on. It performed well with all the nibs and inks I've tried with it so far, and there's barely any show-through on the back side of the page. It's a fantastic paper.

Write Notepads Notebook
Write Notepads Notebook

Aside from the numbered pages, there's a single front page that features some Write Notepads branding and a space to write some personal information, the subject of the notebook, or whatever else you think is important for the first page. No table of contents or back envelope for this notebook — just 160 pages of excellent paper ready to be filled.

Write Notepads Notebook

The cover of the notebook really shines and adds to the excellent feel and functionality of the paper inside. This is a sturdy cover with a resilient cloth wrapping that looks great and has a great tactile quality. It does add a little bit of width and heft to the overall notebook, but it's well worth it for the aesthetic quality as well as the durability it provides. You can toss this thing in a bag with whatever else and be confident that nothing will happen to it. On top of all that, the notebook lays flat when open and stays shut when closed.

Write Notepads Notebook

The front outside cover and spine are blank, and the back cover has a debossed Write logo. I'm a big fan of the minimal branding on this notebook, but also glad that the Write name is easy to spot if you're unfamiliar with the brand.

At $20, this notebook is a good value. You can find more affordable options, but the price of this notebook is more than fair due to the quality of materials. It will certainly stand the test of time, and the writing experience is fantastic. You can pick one up with a Slate, Cranberry, or Royal Blue (pictured here) cover, and either lined or dot grid format. If you need a durable and attractive A5 notebook, definitely give this one a look!


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!

Write Notepads Notebook
Posted on November 2, 2022 and filed under Write Notepads, Notebook Reviews.

Mr. Rouge Voyageur Notebook Review

Mr. Rouge Voyageur 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!)

This lovely Voyageur notebook from Mr. Rouge was handmade with pride in Mexico. It has a soft, textured leather cover with no branding, which combines a minimal look with the rustic elegance of natural materials. It looks like the kind of book you'd find on the shelves of a secret castle library, which fits the brand philosophy--that this is the notebook for travelers, writers, and dreamers. I fancy myself all those things, so it's no wonder I like this notebook.

Mr. Rouge Voyageur Notebook

The leather cover is glued to a thicker endpaper, and then 180 sheets of dot-grid paper are sewn into the binding, a hearty serving of pages for those with lots to write. The notebook lays open flat even without any training. At the end of the notebook, there's a page for your personal information, and a glued-in paper folder.

The book feels great in the hand. It makes you want to write, which is, in my opinion, the best quality a notebook can have. I take big notebooks like this as a personal challenge, and I want to fill them with words.

Mr. Rouge Voyageur Notebook

The leather cover retains a lot of its natural texture, with the rough, unfinished side along the inside edge. It has that good leather smell, too.

Mr. Rouge Voyageur Notebook
Mr. Rouge Voyageur Notebook

The downside of this notebook will be, for some, the paper. It has a nice crispness and feels good to write on, but it doesn't handle fountain pens very well. A fine nib with a light ink does okay, but anything wetter tends to bleed through. A spot where I accidentally dripped ink bled through four pages. Pencil felt amazing on the crisp paper, and ballpoint and gel pens worked very well. This notebook seems to crave a wood-case pencil, though. It's the perfect paper for it, and the smell of the leather with the woodsy smell of the pencil made me feel like I was cosplaying as some romantic poet writing her heart out deep in the forest. I dig it.

Mr. Rouge Voyageur Notebook

Mr. Rouge offers a variety of notebooks, which are available in the US via Amarillo Stationery. The Voyageur is available blank, lined, or dot-grid and in black, light brown, or dark brown, and sells for $26. That's a fantastic price for such a large, well-made notebook. It may not be the top choice for those who exclusively use fountain pens, but for the times I want to write with my beloved gel pens and pencils, this is the perfect notebook.

(This notebook was purchased from Amarillo Stationery at retail price for the purposes of this review.)


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!

Mr. Rouge Voyageur Notebook
Posted on September 22, 2022 and filed under Mr. Rouge, Notebook Reviews.

Odyssey B5 Notebook Review

Odyssey 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.

Odyssey Notebook Review
Odyssey Notebook Review

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.

Odyssey Notebook Review
Odyssey Notebook Review

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 Notebook Review

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.)


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!

Odyssey Notebook Review
Posted on September 1, 2022 and filed under Odyssey, Notebook Reviews.