Do you know the feeling that you thought you would read a ton of books because of lockdowns, loneliness and other utter boredom, but you ended up reading less than ever over the past 15 months? Now may be the time to catch up. Today, a few suggestions. Outlined here in the best book tradition, a table of contents for this newsletter:

■ RALF WEBB is a favourite poet
■ 0fr. magazine empire has a celebration
■ PET SHOP BOYS’s fan book
■ NO_CODE book and shoes
■ CHRIS POWER wrote a profile and a book
■ Le livre de la saison chez THE HAPPY READER
■ Sign off

You may have noticed that on page 49 of the previous issue of Fantastic Man (the ‘hair’ issue) a poem called ‘Highway Cottage’ appeared, written for the issue by RALF WEBB. ■ The great news is, his debut collection will be out with Penguin next week. It’s called ‘Rotten Days in Late Summer’. ■ It’s truly recommended – RALF’s poems are fantastic and there’s about 25 of them in this volume. Some titles: ‘Love Story: Dettol Protects’, ‘The Chicken Witnesses’ and ‘Dogging is a Love Poem’. ■ Seen above is the happy poet, and the collection.

Paris’ marvellous magazine and book store 0fr. is 25 years young! ■ To celebrate, there’s an exhibition this weekend, until Monday, at 0fr.’s temporary space on 27 bd Jules Ferry, 75011 in Paris, from 1-7pm. ■ Of course everybody knows this, but while most of us tend to pronounce it as “oh-eff-arrr” the shop is actually named after every miser’s dream price tag, “zero francs”. ■ Anyway, love and eternal greetings to the founders, brother & sister ALEXANDRE and MARIE THUMERELLE.

In the mail this week: ‘Annually 2021’, this year’s annual PET SHOP BOYS fanclub book. ■ It’s again a fabulous read, with assorted PET SHOP BOYS news (lots about the world tour being postponed, of course) and a genius 46-page annotated reproduction of singer NEIL TENNANT’s diary of 1986, the year that started with ‘West End Girls’ becoming a smash hit and ended with their duet with DUSTY SPRINGFIELD, ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’ ■ Wow, such jam-packed 365 days! The book is again edited by the brilliant journalist CHRIS HEATH, and comes with a cd featuring two new & rare tracks.

Here’s a book that makes you realise how much we miss travel, or why travel reportage still makes so much sense. ■ The people of TOD’S went to Silicon Valley to meet and photograph actual inhabitants of the digital heartland. ■ The photos are by RAMAK FAZEL, the cover is white type on black cloth (see above, left) and Rizzoli is the publisher. ■ The overall idea comes from NO_CODE, a platform within TOD’S that’s also known for their fab shoe innovations – see their newest example NO_CODE X above on the right, as designed by YONG BAE SEOK.

Now online on the Fantastic Man website is the excellent profile of journalist and filmmaker ADAM CURTIS. ■ His films, or “things” as he calls them, use extensive archive footage from the BBC archives to tell stories of the hidden forces shaping the world today. ■ CURTIS was interviewed by the writer CHRIS POWER who recently released his debut novel ‘A Lonely Man’ with Faber. It is a total page turner in that great genre of the literary thriller. It centres upon a struggling writer who gets caught in a web of intrigue (dead oligarchs, forces far larger than the protagonist can fathom) and at times reads like a plot from one of CURTIS’s films. ■ See below for an image of the well-thumbed uncorrected proof read while making our current issue. ■ It’s recommended reading for these weird times.

Our sibling title THE HAPPY READER has a new issue out very soon, and with it, a focus on one great classic piece of literature. ■ In this issue, ’Madonna In a Fur Coat’ by SABAHATTIN ALI, first published in 1943. It’s a not-too-bulky and rather riveting love story set in Berlin, with a bit of Istanbul thrown in there. ■ We won’t say more for now – read it!