on saleClairefontaine Basic Clothbound A5 Notebook - Black, Dot Grid

The Clairefontaine paper is magnificent, the cover is flexible but sturdy, and the price was very reasonable. I only have two gripes about this book:
1. It doesn't lay flat. That's kind of a deal-breaker with me. For me, a Midori MD notebook is the standard. It lays absolutely flat - and is less expensive than this book, too.
2. The dot grid is a bit dark. It appears to be a purple color. Again, the Midori, with its light blue-green, barely there dots is perfect.
I bought this book because I love Clairefontaine paper and I was curious about it. I'll probably find a use for it, but it's going on the shelf for now.

I love Clairfontagne papers. The paper takes ink nicely. It’s not the absolute best at showing off some qualities of some inks, but it’s solid. It’s one of the best options if you care about how using paper affects ecology. Their forests are certified and they observe best practices in the making of their papers. This notebook in particular needs a bit of bearing in the lay flat, but it will once the binding is ceased a bit. I love having the option of a removable elastic closure! The only thing I truly wish for are numbered pages. It would really improve the utility of this notebook. I am a bullet journalist, and commonplacer, so keeping track of what’s in my notebook is important to me. It’s crucial to have numbered pages. It would improve this notebook’s utility immensely!!! I chose this notebook over the official BuJo because it’s less than half the price, and I don’t need all the special markings those notebooks have. But I do need the page numbers, and wish Clairfontagne would make this improvement, because this is an otherwise fantastic notebook!

The paper quality of this notebook is excellent. It's super smooth, and I haven't been annoyed by any feathering or bleeding with any of the ink/pen/nib combos I've tried so far. It brings out sheening and shading very well, too. I happen to like the elastic closure, but I have one big complaint. The spine is so stiff that the notebook won't lay flat. I find myself having to pry it open and weigh it down with either my arm or an object so it doesn't shut itself as I'm trying to write. Maybe I'm just spoiled by other notebooks I've recently had with lay-flat binding, but this makes the writing experience much less enjoyable for me. On the bright side, even with all my prying and tugging, there hasn't been any damage to the pages or the notebook at all. I'm half way through the pages, and it still looks as good as new even though I take it with me everywhere. It's extremely sturdy, so if you don't mind that it doesn't lay flat, I highly recommend it.

Some ghosting with really wet inks, but has not prevented me from writing on both sides of the page. Sheening inks sheen almost as well as on Tomoe River paper.Paper is smooth, but can still detect some texture with my fingertip, but not by sight (similar to Tomoe River). The cover is semi stiff and seems pretty durable.4 stars because the binding makes it difficult to write on some pages on the extreme edge of the book.Very happy with the purchase and will buy again. Book is excellent value!

I love the notebook, but the only thing I dont enjoy so much is the clasp on the band, that keeps the notebook shut. It definitely gets in the way of writing. Other then that, I dont mind it! :) I'm obsessed with how smooth the paper is. My fountain pens glideeeee.