Reading Notebooks

[given]

Hola, I have recently started reading the Susan Sontag journals which
I find amazing. My knowledge of Sontag was mostly from reading small
pieces of hers when I was in college--the depth and breadth of her
thinking is amazing. Anyone know what kind of notebook she used?
Certainly feels like a Moleskine user to me...

In any event, I realized that every single published journal I have
read I have really enjoyed--most recently, William S Burroughs' _Last
Words_ turned me on to all sorts of stuff & reminded me of an
interesting time in my life. Which I think is why I like reading
journals--the point towards interesting things that interesting people
do that I can then try...Does anyone have any other recommendation for
strong Journals to read? Thanks, David S

[sbraley]

I also loved the Sontag journal, it was very inspiring. (Made me want
to run out and see foreign films and read Thomas Mann.)

John Cheever's journal was just published in paperback, I enjoyed that
one as well. If you can find them, doubt they're still in print, Jean
Cocteau's are a treat.

If you liked the Burroughs, you might also like Allen Ginsberg's. And
of course, there is always Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is fascinating to
read and see him working through the ideas that he later crafts into
essays.

I was inspired by Gail Godwin's The Making of a Writer; and Sylvia
Plath's journals were (for good or bad) a huge influence on my in my
teens and twenties, I recall reading them with great nostalgia, the
life a tortured artist; she had an intense life of the mind.

Hope this helps.

Shirley