An Invitation: Join the September Commonplace Book Club!

There I was, two decades ago, a second-year Ph.D. student curled in a library chair, when it happened. I fell in love.

It felt exactly the way movies depict it. Like being struck by Cupid’s arrow. In a matter of minutes, my life changed. I finished the first page of Middlemarch, turned to my friend, and said: “I’ve just found my favorite book of all time. I am in love with George Eliot.” Every subsequent page confirmed my devotion. To this day, whenever I’m asked to name my favorite book, I answer: George Eliot’s Middlemarch.

The truth is, however, that I haven’t read Middlemarch from beginning to end in over a decade. I wondered if it was still my favorite book. So, over the past week, I returned to my great love. I reread Middlemarch—in my battered copy with its loosening pages and reactions left by a younger version of myself.

I won’t keep you in suspense: Middlemarch remains my favorite. I still admire its expansive generosity. Eliot’s love for humanity emanates from every page. And her metaphors, woven through those lavishly long Victorian sentences, remain sparkling examples of literary style.

As I re-read Middlemarch, I picked out my favorite quotes to share with you as we embark on our third (!!!) year of the Commonplace Book Club (CBC).

If you are new to the club, here’s what you need to know:

For our September CBC—and Noted’s fourth anniversary (the anniversary edition drops next Monday)—I’m offering 20% off an annual subscription for the next week.1

Get 20% off forever

So…What’s a Commonplace Book?

In brief, commonplace books are personal collections of quotations and other information you want to remember. Learn more about commonplace books here.

I hope you’ll join us for the next three CBC meetings: September 2026, January 2027, and May 2027!

Every time we meet, I pick a different focus for my commonplace book. In the past, I’ve shared quotes from Seneca and Mary Oliver. This time around, I’m excited to share my love for Middlemarch—a novel that is as obsessed with literature, notebooks, and community as we are at the CBC.

George Eliot kept commonplace books of her own. Her readers, meanwhile, loved extracting memorable passages (“beauties,” as they called them) and publishers quickly started selling the extractable bits in publications like The George Eliot Birthday Book.2

Like many classics, reading Middlemarch in my forties feels different than reading it in my twenties did. Great books are like that: They contain so many different layers that they become kaleidoscopic, with different elements coming into focus.

Part of the joy of keeping a commonplace book is in seeing how your mind shows up on the blank page. We all need different things from our commonplace books at different times.

Here is some inspiration, drawn from the ways community members have used the CBC in the past:

• Join me in reading Middlemarch

• A study in a single author (like Mary Oliver or Seneca) or book (like Middlemarch)

• Writing out first lines from a selection of your favorite books

• Going back through old commonplace books and sharing your favorite quotes

• Sharing quotes from newsletters on Substack

• Sharing quotes from overheard conversations

• Sharing a quote tied to a photograph from your neighborhood, backyard, or pet

• Sharing your own illustrations/collages/photographs of favorite authors

• Typed quotes are also welcome

You can find more inspiration by looking at our chat as well as our communal commonplace books from September 2024 , January 2025 , April 2025 , June 2025, September 2025, January 2026, and May 2026.

*Most importantly: There is no wrong way to keep a commonplace book!*

Here’s what participants had to say about our club:

Part of my goal for the CBC is to foster a daily commonplace book habit (for myself and for you). We’ll start small with just one quote a day—typed or handwritten.

Of course, you don’t have to post your quotes—this is totally optional—but, I hope you’ll post at least once. I never tire of looking at other people’s notes!

As an added incentive, if you post a picture of a quote every day for all 30 days, I’ll enter you in a raffle to win one of the following prizes🏆(you’ll get to pick which one you want):

1. A personalized notebook (handmade by me)

2. A signed copy of my book (about 19th-century commonplace books)

3. A complimentary 1 year subscription to Noted (this will extend your subscription for an extra year at no cost to you)

The Commonplace Book Club (CBC) is a perk for paid subscribers.

• The CBC will take place on our private chat. I’ll post my quote and you’ll add yours via the “reply” button. It will look like this:

• Every morning (beginning on September 1st) I will open a new thread with my own image of a quote (at around 8am Eastern Standard Time).

• Since we all live in different time-zones, just add your quote to whatever day it happens to be in your corner of the world.

Get 20% off forever

You can hop over to our chat to say “hi” and add a quote to our warm-up thread. This thread will be open to all subscribers. That way, you can figure out if you’d like to join us in September.

I’ve loved the CBC as a space for genuine community—and connection—among people who appreciate language and ideas. I hope you’ll join!

See you on the chat,