Playing throughout life. Slow reader with an irrational appetite for WWII stories—that’s what our user Denis Moulin says on his Literal profile. Learn more about stories that never leaves his shelf, decluttering, and his love for world war books.
You created some (vastly different) shelves on Literal – from Second World War to Raise a reader. Which genre of books is your favourite one?
I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. I used to alternate between non-fiction and fiction, but it didn’t stick. I used to read way more novels while travelling was still allowed; I can’t explain it differently.
50% of my last books were probably about World War II, and it started with a manga from Shigeru Mizuki. Nowadays, I’m in the thick of it with John Keegan’s book on the subject, really dense but a great read.
Why are the books from your Cathartic collection ‘Never leaving the shelf’, as you wrote?
Every quarter, my wife and I clean up the house to get rid of unnecessary objects, declutter our living spaces. Throughout the year, we get book gifts, buy some books ourselves, and ultimately it’s getting messy. It brings us clarity to have only our essential books, the Cathartic shelf includes some that I’d like to keep around for myself or for others to lend.
Do you have a book that you always comes back to or that you think about often?
Thinking of this question over the last week, I immediately went back to David Sedaris’s Calypso. Now and then, I’d pick one of his books during the year. My favourite by far is Naked, very humorous but also introspective in strange ways.
What are the three best books ever written in your opinion?
I immediately think of Virginie Despentes’s *Vernon Subutex One,* I can’t quite explain it, but it’s the best fiction I’ve ever read.
The second would be *Surf is where you find* it by Gerry Lopez. Legendary surfer, snowboarder to say the least, and one of my heroes. He writes about adventure, companionship, nature, sports pioneers. If there’s one book I’d like to keep, that’d be Gerry Lopez’s.
