Having spotted some samples on sale in Waterstones today, I recalled that there seems to be quite a cult of the Moleskine notebook on the Web. The company’s site boasts that mere mortals can avail of the same products “used by Van Gogh, Chatwin*, Hemingway, Matisse and C�line” (the writer, not to be confused with the Franco-Canadian singer). I can see the point of this marketing hook: some dreamy illiterate hopes that a little of the magic might rub off if they scribble on the same type of paper that absorbed Hemingway’s curt prose. (“The paper was white. It was good paper…etc.”)For me, however, nothing is more intimidating than the sight of expensive, blank paper. And if I ever happen to be holding, let’s say, a hefty Mont Blanc pen I’m not sure if I could bring myself to write my name. Give me a biro and an A4 pad any day: What I end up writing may be rubbish but at least I won’t feel as though I’m defacing a precious work of art. *The Moleskine site mentions “Chatwin used to buy his moleskine at a Paris stationery shop in Rue de l�Ancienne Com�die.” Ah yes, he would, wouldn’t he? No WH Smiths for Chatwin.