Cycling [Import] [Paperback]

Greg Garrett (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation; Reprint edition (October 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758205325
• ISBN-13: 978-0758205322
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,217,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Greg Garrett is the author of over a dozen critically-acclaimed books of fiction, memoir, translation, and criticism. His debut novel Free Bird was chosen by Publishers' Weekly and the Denver Rocky Mountain News as one of the top fiction debuts of 2002, and many have been moved by his autobiographical writing on depression and faith, Crossing Myself and No Idea, but he is probably best known for his books on religion, politics, and culture. These works include One Fine Potion: The Literary Magic of Harry Potter, We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel according to U2, Stories from the Edge: A Theology of Grief, Holy Superheroes!, The Gospel According to Hollywood, and The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and Faith in the Matrix (with Chris Seay). His newest book is The Other Jesus, a personal work of theology examining how to be a thoughtful and faithful follower of Jesus in the 21st Century. You may have heard (or read) him talking about religion, politics, and culture in the media. His work has been covered by The New Yorker, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, BBC Radio, National Public Radio, CBS Radio, msnbc.com, The Bob Edwards Show, The National Review, Commonweal, and many other broadcast, print, and web venues.

Greg writes a weekly column on religion and politics, Faithful Citizenship, for Patheos (http://patheos.com), blogs on religion and culture for The Thoughtful Christian (http://blog.thethoughtfulchristian.com) and blogs for the Christian Century (http://theotherjesus.com). In addition to his ongoing work in fiction, he is currently doing thinking, research, and writing for book projects on post-9/11 literature and culture, American religion and politics, and Christian wisdom traditions. Greg is an award-winning Professor of English at Baylor University, Writer in Residence at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest and at Gladstone's Library in Hawarden, Wales, and a licensed lay preacher based at St. David's Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas.

He lives in Austin with his two sons, Jake and Chandler. His heroes include Martin Luther King, Barbara Jordan, Henry David Thoreau, Robert F. Kennedy, Desmond Tutu, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. His favorite authors include Lee Smith, Walker Percy, Graham Greene, Nick Hornby, Barbara Brown Taylor (are you really still reading this?), Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Merton, Rowan Williams, and Anne Lamott. His favorite color is blue (No, yellow!), he plays Taylor GS-7, Fender Stratocaster, and Epiphone Casino guitars, and he likes both green and red chile on his blue corn enchiladas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cycling's a joyride., October 30, 2003

By 

Paul R. Soupiset "peasouptx" (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cycling (Hardcover)

Cycling stands as an inventive -- at times gripping -- ride, and is one of the few books that this reviewer has ever devoured in a single sitting.

Garrett's brand of literary realism offers crisp details -- the barking dogs lurching at a blur of bicycle spokes, the Mexican Coca Colas Hector Portillo sells in his midtown store, the levity and gravity found amidst friends wrangling 900 pounds of dry-weight concrete, and a defunct East Waco soul food café called Martha's -- through all this he allows his characters to find their skin within his photorealistic microcosm.

Throughout the narrative, the shifting weather patterns (important for any cyclist) punctuate the story's trajectory. Overheard songs conspire to comment on the character's emotions and actions like a transistored Greek chorus. The characters that interact with Cannon are birthed from a rich intersection of genteel Southern life, Western American culture, and a Baptist/Christian subculture that is so much a part of Waco. Even "bit characters" are presented in such a way that you believe each one has their own novel waiting to be excavated.

In the end, Cycling conveys an unmistakable (yet complex) grace, much like the final scenes Garrett's first novel, Free Bird.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, October 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cycling (Hardcover)

If you enjoy a story with characters that are flawed but real, and who grow and change, then you'll enjoy Cycling. With humor and consideration for his characters, Greg Garrett makes this slice of fictional "real life" very believable. I wanted to know what was going to happen -- it's real storytelling.

Highly recommended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo!, September 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cycling (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book!
If you ever attended Baylor University, lived in Central Texas, rode a bike, or were related to a tormented writer you should order this book now. Brad Cannon along with his friends, lovers, and colleagues weave together a story that is as satisfying as a Big O at Georges (a waco greasy spoon that serves a large cold beer). The Waco Chamber of Commerce should buy these books in bulk and give them away by the dozens - it paints a picture of a friendly college town that seems to be ignored in the media frenzy of Dennehy or Koresh.

Garrett has an unmistakable gift in telling real and powerful stories, I give it two thumbs up!