The Magic of Communal Commonplacing

A celebration of the CBC!

Sep 30, 2024

∙ Paid

Something magical happens when we choose a quote, deciding to keep it, to return to it, to inscribe it in our notebooks. But what happens when we decide to keep quotes in community? The magic multiplies.

By their very nature, commonplace books are collaborative. Sometimes, that means communing with our favorite authors, living and dead. Sometimes that means sharing quotes with friends—sometimes with perfect strangers who become friends.

That, I think, is what has happened with our Commonplace Book Club (CBC). So, of course, we’ll have to do another iteration of it.

As September draws to a close, and, with it, this month’s CBC, I’m dreaming up the club’s future. I’d love your input. I’d be so grateful if you could fill out this short survey—it shouldn’t take more than two minutes.

Speaking of community, I have an exciting announcement: I’m joining

Katherine May

’s book club to discuss Hilary Mantel’s memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. Paid subscribers will find details and a link to join at the bottom of this post. I’d love to see you there!

To celebrate the CBC’s conclusion, I’ve assembled a communal commonplace book filled with quotations from community members who granted me permission to reproduce their entries.

A note: I included most entries by those who gave permission and organized them under topics (according to commonplace book tradition)—you might have organized entries differently, but that’s all part of the fun. Also, I found screenshots came out fuzzy, so I omitted names and commentary, all of which remain available on our chat.

Many thanks to all members of the club and especially to those who allowed me to use their entries: