Charles Simic and The Little Notebook at NYRB
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29 October 2011
It’s no surprise that I would be delighted to read Charles Simic at NYRB on the virtues of keeping a notebook, of writing things down longhand. I still write in a Moleskine journal, and I use spiral notebooks and Bic pilot pens for writing fiction and essays. I write emails more than texts, which I know is rather outdated, and I still can’t quite get comfortable posting at Facebook (and don’t tweet), because I find that degree of brevity and frequency really stressful.
But I wonder about iPhones/iPads. I’ve been tempted for a while but haven’t seriously considered it yet (price point is of course an issue). I like the idea of an “all-in-one” device, but what’s still missing from the “all” is, well, words. If words are your main medium (generating them, that is), not images or sound or information chunks, then the i-devices still aren’t quite for you. Yesterday, I left my phone somewhere, and for a short while I didn’t know where. I thought, O shit, I’m going to have a get a new phone. Will it be an i-phone? I wondered. There is a feeling that a year from now, it won’t even be a question or a choice but a foregone conclusion — you’ll need an iphone like you need, say, a refrigerator.
I did find my phone, so it’s all okay for now. But a year from now… well, let’s just say that I do hope Charles Simic is still writing for NYRB.
Filed in analogians anonymous, e-reading, media, money, social networking, the reading life, the writing life
Tags: Charles Simic, NYRB
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I rarely leave home without my Moleskine and mechanical pencil. It’s nice to know there are a few of us around.
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I find that even though I bring my snazzy little laptop to class, and use it for all sorts of ready reference while I’m there, I still like to take notes longhand in my array of odd notebooks. And I have so MANY — I’m obviously one of those people who, when the occasion calls for a present, is given some kind of blank book. And really, I couldn’t be happier about that. I have a bunch of colored pens, I have my highlighters, I have my sticky notes. And while I’m definitely a techy person, I think I’m more of a hybrid altogether.