[.ca] Round Ireland With a Fridge (ISBN 1856865126)

From Amazon.com:
On his only prior visit to Ireland, English songwriter-comic Tony Hawks had seen a man hitchhiking with a refrigerator. For years, he was wont to tell the tale during late-night drinking matches, and after one particularly heavy-duty night of partying, he awoke to find a bet scrawled pillowside: a friend wagered 100 pounds that Hawks wouldn't travel Ireland for a month with a refrigerator at his side. Out of this stupid premise, a ridiculously amusing book was born. Quickly discovered by the Irish media, the thumbing Englishman finds that he and his box fridge are elevated to celebrity status, and there's no dearth of rides, places to stay, or goofy people to meet, from kings to spoons players to locals who take his fridge surfing. As insightful about the strange inner workings of Hawk's mind as it is about charming peculiarities of Irishmen--it's doubtful that Hawks would have been similarly embraced by Germans, Italians, or the French--Round Ireland with a Fridge is an entirely silly, heartwarming tale told in a rollicking funny and refreshing style. --Melissa Rossi

This is not supposed to be a travel book!:
Many reviews here have critisised this book as being a rubbish travel book. This is not a travel book and was never intended to be a travel book. It is simply the story of a man who travelled around Ireland with a fridge - end of story. I am Irish and remember when all this happened - I remember listening in to the radio show every day to hear what he was up to and remember his arrival to Dublin when nobody came out to see him. It is therefore interesting to read his actual story and see what was really happening behind his story on the radio. But it's not a travel book!

Most fun I've had in a while:
What happens when a drunken British comedian bets his buddy he can circumnavigate Ireland with a fridge? You get a hilarious story of Tony Hawks and his travels across the green Isle. Although the topic sounds contrived, you'll find yourself laughing as Tony takes the fridge surfing, sleeps in the (literal) doghouse, and gets adopted by a local radio station. The humor is light, self-depracating (like all good travel stories) and quick to give you a smile. Some sections may even make you spit milk through your nose. Enjoy for some good laughs!

More comedy! Less history!:
This is one of those rare travel boks where you feel completely wrapped up in the adventure without learning anything about the country it takes place in. (Minus the fact that in Ireland, every pub has it's own drunk. Which is nice to know.) Tony Hawks mixes two great forms of comedy; One being his observational humor about the oddities of the characters he meets. The other being the fact that he was funny in real life. Hearing his recaps of what he did and the speeches he give are well worth the price of admission.

A hilarious read, great for sharing:
I got this book on the recommendation of some friends. I ended up reading it to my wife over the course of several weeks. With two of us to share the comedy this was a wonderful book. Plenty of tales of possible disaster saved at the last minute by the present of The Fridge. Recommended for anyone who feels like a pick me up. And definitely a great read to share with a friend!

A Most Bizarre Travelogue:
I love this book. The premise is that due to a bet while under the influence he has to hitchhike around the perimeter of Ireland in a month. The fact that he paid more for the fridge than the value of the wager makes the concept even more entertaining. Some have criticized (I believe unfairly) the book for not being a detailed travel journal. I think that is a factually correct statement, but the point here is not to be a serious travel guide, but to be a humor book about funny experiences during a very odd odyssey. There are many amusing moments in the book, some of which are so well written that they made me laugh out loud. Purists may argue that it is a rather smallish fridge, but I don't think that matters; it's the concept of hitchhiking in a foreign country with a large, ungainly peculiar object that matters here. Tony Hawks is a very strange, and very funny man. If you are interested in a book filled with unusual comic characters and situations, this would be hard to beat.