Some five years ago, I first sight eyes on Moleskine... and here again, was this same feeling when I spotted this larger than life cardboard cutout propped by the doorway at Kino.

Oops, sorry, Moleskine is the type of notebook that keeps me, and a whole horde of others, as I have found out, writing for hours on.

No, no, not the laptop type but a real notebook, the kind with blank pages, plus a few extras that somehow gets the ink in your vein flowing.

Initially, the thought that anyone would spend RM89.90 on a glorified exercise book felt more than strange to me.

Aghast at the exorbitant price tag which I discreetly twisted in my hand unbelievingly, I whispered to myself:

Who on earth would spend so much money on pieces of paper? Humankind had evolved into something  beyond comprehension in my mediocre lifestyle.

Whatever fondness I had reserved for that unique shop named How & When in Bangsar was surely, sorely being tested. I left.

But bizarre thoughts of Moleskine preoccupied my mind even after I had left the shop. I found myself cursing the dead Christopher Marlowe with his haunting lines echoing in my head: "Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?"

I was being drawn to Moleskine... with each passing minute; hours of the day. I must have been behaving like a giddy teenager until I finally owned one.

At this point, allow me to share a little of what I learnt: the correct way to pronounce Moleskine is "mole--skee-  a". Mere mortals like moi, however, pronounce it the exact way it is spelt.

Moleskines are handmade. Its pages are acid-free paper to prevent the writing from fading over the years.

Thoroughly checked for defects before reaching the shelves, these notebooks are exquisitely (and lovingly, I'm  sure) leather-like oil cloth-bound, have stitched spines, come with an internal pocket in the back cover (to slip in little notes or mementos) and an elastic strap to hold the covers together. Oh yes, a bookmark too.

But there are many variations to the Moleskine, many fansites over the Internet and even YouTube.

A couple of million of Moleskines are sold each year, I kid you not.

Legends in artistic pursuits like Earnest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Bruce Chatwin were touted to have written and sketched in notebooks that were claimed to have been Moleskine, but there have been variations to this and it has been brushed off as an exaggeration. I feel Hemmingway wrote his A Moveable Feast at sidewalk café in Paris on his Moleskine.

There is something about Moleskine that makes my pen sail through the pages effortlessly.

Time ceases to have meaning once I start writing on Moleskine. My very first Moleskine is tainted with stains of coffee, scratched from top to bottom, but I still treasure the piece as if it were a diamond.

Above all, Moleskine's greatest gift is that it resurrects a dying art: handwriting. Lately, with the advent of computers, we hardly write anything on paper for we keep pounding away on the mighty keyboard. But the art of writing down your thoughts on paper lends you the edge of being thorough. It also enables you to compose your point of view creatively in its slow, laborious process. It makes you think - and then, think again.

For those with artistic pursuits and a little indulgence on their minds, Kinokuniya at KLCC is holding My Moleskine Nô To exhibition until July 12. Nô To in Japanese slang means notebook.

This exhibition also has on display the creative jottings of popular artists from Japan, sharing their initial scribbling, scrawls and whatever senses, all transferred onto the delicate acid-free papers. The artistic
pursuits vary from creative writing, random drawing, fashion and music - whatever the Moleskine jotters came across in the land of the rising fun.

That these renowned artists have the courage to lend their "raw" and personal work for display is somewhat amazing to me. I shudder thinking of what I have written in mine (swear words punched in abundance whenever winds of anger sweep me over). I will never, for the life of me, let anyone read that. Ah, to each her own Moleskine.

● Elviza Michele Kamal is holidaying Down Under with her loves of her life, including her oldest Moleskine that was tucked between baby's nappies in the knapsack. She blogs at  http://www.elviza.wordpress.com