What's on Alex Perez's Bedside Table?

Dreamlike stories, A portrait of Dylan's weirdness, and more

Alex Perez is a Cuban-American writer, editor, and former baseball player from Miami. Below, Alex shares with us what he’s been reading lately.

In the Issue 3 of the Mars Review of Books, he reviewed recent novels by Stephanie LaCava, Tess Gunty, Celeste Ng, and Allie Rowbottom. The piece has been temporarily unpaywalled. Read it while you can!

Check out what’s on Alex’s bedside table below.

Last Evenings on Earth, Roberto Bolaño

Whenever I need a quick Bolaño fix, Last Evenings on Earth is my go-to book. The title story is my favorite short story of all time (Barry Hannah’s “Testimony of Pilot” is a close second). To the uninitiated, Last Evenings on Earth is the perfect entry point into Bolaño’s work—accessible yet utterly strange and dreamlike stories.

Rolling Thunder Logbook, Sam Shepard

Sam Shepard hit the road with Dylan in 1975 after being commissioned to write a screenplay about the infamous Rolling Thunder Revue. The script never materialized, but this book of vignettes and photographs from the tour perfectly captures Dylan’s weirdness and genius during his peak.

Night Train: New and Selected Stories, Thom Jones

Thom Jones was one of the first writers I read after I got serious about my own writing. I’m re-reading his stories for the first time in years. He was in his 40s and working as a janitor when the New Yorker published his debut story—“The Pugilist at Rest”—and propelled him to literary fame. Realist fiction about down and out guys—former athletes, veterans, etc.—trying to survive.

Loitering: New and Collected Essays, Charles D’Ambrosio

D’Ambrosio is mostly known for his terrific short stories—check out The Dead Fish Museum—but his essays are just as good. He doesn’t publish much anymore, so this one is another re-read. The collection is a mix of personal essays, reported pieces, and slice of life observations about the Pacific Northwest.