A notebook is more than just a practical tool. It can be a source of joy, a covetable item that turns an ordinary, everyday task — note-taking, journaling, task-planning, brainstorming, or doodling — into a sublime experience. It can also be a form of self expression.Upgrading from a cheap notebook to a high-quality one usually costs just a couple more cents per page (or about $2 to $5 overall), and you’re worth it.After interviewing experts, researching over 120 notebooks, and writing zealously in 54 of them side by side over weeks, we have recommendations in a number of sizes and styles, priced from about $10 to $40 (at this writing). Any of these notebooks will provide an appreciably better writing experience than what you can get from a generic, off-the-shelf-at-Walgreens notebook.We mention price per page when it’s notable, but our picks average 11 cents per page (at this writing). We also mention paper weight or thickness when that spec is important, but most of these high-quality pages are 80 to 90 grams per square meter (gsm); thicker isn’t always better, but all of the paper in our picks felt substantial and satisfying for us to write on. And most of the notebooks we tested had 7 mm lined ruling (close to college rule), but we note the exceptions below.