I have a $3 notebook from Office Works that is great! It has heavy, creamy pages, an elastic band to keep the cover closed and a pen holder that fits my fountain pen nicely. Then I have a 2012 diary that is almost great: it has a beautiful cover, lovely pages and typography, but no pen holder… I didn’t realise how much I valued a pen holder on my notebooks and diaries until I had an excellent one on my notebook and none on my diary.
So, I cut the elastic off a 2011 diary that I barely used and used a craft brad and a little glue to secure it to my 2012 diary. Problem solved!