Rating: 
Summary: Good Summer Read
Review: I would recommend this book to anyone who is Irish, into travel, or has ever made a druken bet and been tempted to follow up on it. This book is a quick light hearted read. I started laughing from the begining right till the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Drunk + Fridge = A Good Craic
Review: This very amusing book can be summarized as follows: British comedian gets sloshed at party, makes drunken wager that he can hitchhike around the circumference of Ireland with a refrigerator within one calendar month, wakes up, agrees to follow through on drunken wager, wacky antics ensue. Given that the mini-fridge with which to fulfill the bet costs £130, and the bet is for £100, it’s becomes clear that the book is not so much about winning the bet as it is about how the bet is won. It’s certainly not meant to be any kind of guide to Ireland. If anything, it’s a guide to embracing actions that have no point, to every now and then live outside the sensible boundaries we construct in out lives.Hawks strikes it lucky at the very beginning, as his silly bet is championed by a RTE2 (Irish national radio station) radio personality, giving him instant notoriety, which eases his path around Ireland. Hawks’ comedian background enables him to kind-heartedly poke fun at everything and everyone he encounters, with large doses of self-depreciation mixed in. He’s constantly amazed at the generous and warm receptions he receives throughout the country, and finds something positive in almost everyone and every place he visits (buoyed no doubt by the numerous free meals and beds bestowed upon him). The book is a silly good time, and the embodiment of easy reading. Toward the end the quirky characters he meets on the road and in bars start to run together a little, and it might have benefited from being fifty pages less or so. But still, it’s not every day you can read about a fridge surfing, a fridge baptizing, a fridge blessing, a fridge party (with requisite New Order cover band),… well, you’ll have to read it to believe it.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Charming
Review: There is something to be said for a man who keeps his promises and follows through on his bets. There is much more to be said for Tony Hawks, for whom following through on a bet means traveling around Ireland with a fridge. The quote on the cover of the book warns no read the book alone in a public place because it is far too funny. I found that reading this book in my home brought questions of my sanity from those I lived with because I couldn't stop laughing. Hawks tells a story that is funny, philosophical and, yes, even heartwarming. The stories that unwind as Hawks travels range from strange to funny and are a great picture of a man on an adventure and the warmth of a country.
Rating:
Summary: This is no Frommer's Guide to Ireland.
Review: How can you resist a book with a title like this? I couldn't and am glad I didn't. It becomes apparent very early that Tony Hawks never met a pub he didn't like and ends up spending more hours signaling to bartenders than he does to passing motorists. One delightful insight he passes on is that each Irish pub has a resident drunk and more unique characters than a dozen American bars can offer. The whole concept of the journey was insane, he should have been ignored or laughed at. Neither happened, the Irish took him to their hearts and laughed not at him but with him. Thanks Tony for sharing your insanity with us.
Rating:
Summary: With a little help from new friends
Review: Awakening with a hangover, the author finds that he has made a bet for L100, so he buys a L130 "dorm" refrigerator and gamely goes out to accomplish the mission - hitching `round Ireland with a fridge. This book does not purport to be a treatise on Anglo-Irish relations. Nonetheless, the author does come to empathy (See, for instance, pages 109 and 185,) while providing the reader with a rollicking fun account of his trek. Without droning on, it speaks volumes that the people we meet in the book embrace the folly and help a Brit with his fridge - christened Saiorse (Gaelic for "freedom") and subsequently blessed by a nun. Here's how the author sums up: "The journey may not have changed the lives of the people of Ireland, but it had changed mine. I was a different, a better person. I had made discoveries, learned some important lessons. From this day forth, I was going to stop for hitch-hikers, laugh along with happy drunks in pubs, and respect the right of the bad guitarist to play along with the rest. I had learned tolerance, I had learned that you could trust in your fellow man for help, and I had learned a new and pleasurable way of acquiring splinters." (p. 240)
Rating:
Summary: You need cheering up, then read this!
Review: To everyone out there who really wants to have a laugh. This book is probably the funniest thing I have ever read. It took me only a few days which is a miracle as normally it takes me about 6 months to read a book (I'd much rather watch TV). This book is based on a true story. Tony makes a bet to travel around Ireland with a fridge. He decides that he doesn't want to wake up in 20 years time and wish he had done it. The whole book is hilarious, so of my favourites are when he takes the fridge surfing and how he gets misunderstood in a loud nightclub - it has happened to us all. If you want a book which makes you smile, cringe and cry (when you have no more to read), then this is most definitely a 5* rating book. I have a copy and will get it out from time to time to cheer me up when I have the grumps.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Informative.
Review: This is a great read for its comedy factor as well as for its information on how an American woman can marry an Irishman at their marrage festivals. His next book about Moldovia is also excellent and comes highly recommended. Both are similar in feel to the book Prague, My Love by Hilary A. James and Jiri P. Musil. Travelling from the comfort of home is great!
Rating:
Summary: Good Craic
Review: After a heavy alcohol-fuelled session at a party, English comedian Tony Hawks wakes up to find that he has entered into a bet to hitchhike around the coast of Ireland in the company of a fridge. Not a man to welch on his bets he sets off to do precisely that and manages to write us a hilarious book detailing the experience. The people of Ireland respond to the idea of this English lunatic pulling this stunt as if it's an excellent proposal and pitch in to help Tony on his way with madcap enthusiasm. By car, truck and van, Tony and his fridge progress around the coast; on the way having the fridge christened, blessed, named and adopted as well as entering into a batchelor competition. The passing through of Tony and his fridge becomes an event in many areas and he achieves a cult following as "Fridge-man". If you want to read a travelogue with a difference you'd be hard-pressed to find one as bizarre and enjoyable as this which serves to warm the reader's heart to Ireland, the Irish, Tony and free-willed kitchen appliances everywhere. Good craic.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo!
Review: If there has ever been a more idiotic bet someone actually went out and did, I'm not aware of it. Round Ireland With A Fridge is a wonderful, light-hearted read. Part humor, part traavelogue, Hawks does a wonderful job of describing his month hitching around Ireland. I highly reccomend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Eejit
Review: What a simple idea. Tony Hawks accepted a bet to travel around the island of Ireland in one month. With a fridge. The book is a brilliant travelogue in the finest traditions of Bill Bryson, but funnier. Hawks readily admits the plain daftness of the idea but on his travels realises that Ireland still is one of the friendliest, most beautiful countries in the world. Fuelled by Guinness and Irish breakfasts and with an eye for the ladies Hawks manages to cram the book with great anecdotes and humour. Read it but be careful where, there are several "huge belly laughs that won't be contained" episodes.
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