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77th out of 269 books
—
259 voters
McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland
The #1 Irish Bestseller
Despite the many exotic places Pete McCarthy has visited, he finds that nowhere else can match the particular magic of Ireland, his mother's homeland. In McCarthy's Bar, his journey begins in Cork and continues along the west coast to Donegal in the north.Traveling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule, "never pass a bar t...more
Despite the many exotic places Pete McCarthy has visited, he finds that nowhere else can match the particular magic of Ireland, his mother's homeland. In McCarthy's Bar, his journey begins in Cork and continues along the west coast to Donegal in the north.Traveling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule, "never pass a bar t...more
Paperback, 338 pages
Published
March 3rd 2003
by St. Martin's Griffin
(first published 1999)
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Non sono mai stata in Irlanda e sinceramente non è mai stata una meta da considerare tra i miei viaggi: io sono più "mediterranea" e amo poco i paesi nordici. Però devo dire che, grazie alla simpatia e allo humour dell'autore e alla bellezza dei paesaggi descritti nel libro, un pensierino sto cominciando a farlo su un probabile viaggio in Irlanda.E' stato bello condividere con l'autore il suo viaggio alla ricerca delle proprie radici familiari e la scoperta di far parte di un "clan".
As a former travel writer for a magazine, you would think I would read more travel writing. But I don't... I never find myself as invested in the characters within nonfiction as I do with fiction, so I've stayed away.
While studying for two months in Ireland and staying weekends with my family in County Cavan, I picked up this book. I regularly laughed out loud at his stories, and the uncanny truths he presented about Ireland and its people were astounding... it was an unlikely supplement to the...more
While studying for two months in Ireland and staying weekends with my family in County Cavan, I picked up this book. I regularly laughed out loud at his stories, and the uncanny truths he presented about Ireland and its people were astounding... it was an unlikely supplement to the...more
So here's a book that my wife recommended which was also read and enjoyed by her parents - and not just because of an affinity created by the fact that the McCaffrey family often has their name misheard, mispronounced and mistranscribed as McCarthy. More likely it's simply that they've all been to and loved Ireland, and this book is a funny, self-deprecating travelogue covering most of the island. It also introduced me to a fundamental rule of travel: if you encounter a bar with your own name ov...more
This review applies to both of the late Pete McCarthy's books, McCarthy's Bar and The Road to McCarthy.
“If you travel in hope rather than with certain knowledge,” writes Pete McCarthy, “something interesting usually happens.” On the evidence of his first two books, McCarthy is an infinitely hopeful traveler; wherever he goes -- a pub in a small Irish town, an Irish bar in a big American city, or a sparsely populated Alaskan burg that bears his name -- something interesting indeed happens. And Mc...more
“If you travel in hope rather than with certain knowledge,” writes Pete McCarthy, “something interesting usually happens.” On the evidence of his first two books, McCarthy is an infinitely hopeful traveler; wherever he goes -- a pub in a small Irish town, an Irish bar in a big American city, or a sparsely populated Alaskan burg that bears his name -- something interesting indeed happens. And Mc...more
I decided to pick up this book because I had recently read McCarthy's newer book and enjoyed it. I didn't like this book quite as much and it also wasn't quite what I was expecting. Based on his description of this book in his other book and the blurb on the back of the book I literally thought that he traveled around Ireland looking for bars bearing the name McCarthy and that the book would basically be about drinking at those bars. It's really more of a travel writing book about Ireland itself...more
Every author needs inspiration and Pete McCarthy inspired me. McCarthy's Bar is a fantastically gentle and funny book; it grabs you from the first page. It documents his travels along the west coast of Ireland reminding those who have been what a wonderful journey that is, and making those that have not been reach for their travel brochures.
He was a successful travel writer and broadcaster and travelled the world with a programme called Travelog on Channel 4. Pete loved his time there and said "...more
He was a successful travel writer and broadcaster and travelled the world with a programme called Travelog on Channel 4. Pete loved his time there and said "...more
Not the best travelogue I’ve read on Ireland (Mark McCrum’s The Craic is much better, and owes less to Bill Bryson), but it has some entertaining moments and is engagingly written. There is some smashing of stereotypes (the Irish prefer pop music to diddly diddly), but others are reinforced (the Irish like going to the pub). You can enjoy reading it whilst acknowledging that it’s nothing special.
The central premise of the book is ostensibly McCarthy’s search to discover whether his profound att...more
The central premise of the book is ostensibly McCarthy’s search to discover whether his profound att...more
Jan 03, 2009
Discoverylover
marked it as to-read
"Pete McCarthy's tale of his hilarious trip around Ireland has gained thousands of fans all over the world. Pete was born in Warrington to an Irish mother and an English father and spent happy summer holidays in Cork. Years later, reflecting on the many places he has visited as a travel broadcaster, Pete admits that he feels more at home in Ireland than anywhere. To find out whether this is due to rose-coloured spectacles or to a deeper tie with the country of his ancestors, Pete sets off on a t...more
I was really sad to learn that Pete McCarthy had died. I really felt I was going to spend the rest of my life armchair traveling with him and laugh myself silly. The only book EVER to have me laughing out loud whilst sitting having a quiet drink. Apart from the humour you take the journey alongside him like a mate. Eat your heart out Bill Bryson. RIP Pete McCarthy
Fun travelogue of an Irish (half-Irish, half-English, but one who lives or lived in England, and always visited Ireland as a tourist - but always felt more home there than in England) guy from England visiting Ireland. McCarthy - once he figured there are many pubs with his last name in Ireland, he decided to visit them all. There are bits and pieces of all over Ireland (mostly Western parts, like rural Cork, Kerry, Limerick etc).
This book was written at the turn of the millennium, when they st...more
This book was written at the turn of the millennium, when they st...more
For the McNamara-Davis clan, this book is highly recommended. It's about an English comedian and travel writer with ancestral ties to the west of Ireland, and his efforts to plumb the depth of those Irish roots. The premise is simple: his name is McCarthy, and as he travels through the west of Ireland he's going to sample the wares at every pub named McCarthy. So, you see the parallel, what with McNamara's Bar playing a key role in our shared heritage in the fine village of Louisburgh in County...more
Pete McCarthy is a man I wish my liver were up to traveling with. Because of his willingness to adhere to his "Rules of Travel" he has the sort of madcap and beautiful traveling adventures that we all wish we could have but somehow common sense talks us out of. His descriptions of people and places are on point, hilarious and extrememly clever. For someone like myself who lived and traveled for an extended time in Ireland his stories offer a brief taste of what it was really like. People who hav...more
This book was a lot of fun. I didn't know much about Ireland, other than that it was green and pretty and associated with a lot of drinking and friendly people...so it was really interesting learning a little bit more about it, and getting a visual for what the people, culture, and land are like.
the premise of the book is that the author, Pete McCarthy, never goes past a pub with his name on it: Pete's, P. McCarthy's, McCarthy's, etc. so he spends a lot of time in pubs in the book, meeting inter...more
the premise of the book is that the author, Pete McCarthy, never goes past a pub with his name on it: Pete's, P. McCarthy's, McCarthy's, etc. so he spends a lot of time in pubs in the book, meeting inter...more
I picked up this book expecting it to be about the author travelling around Ireland and visiting various bars with the name 'McCarthy' and learning about Ireland and the Irish. Which it is to an extent, but the further I got into the book, the more it became more like the autobiography of a period in his life when he just happened to be in Ireland. He doesn't make any of the places he visits or people he meets leap off the page, and although his observations/jokes are funny, a lot of them are ra...more
This has been on my shelf gathering dust for yonks so I thought I'd finally give it a go.
It is ok, it's amusing and in places laugh-out-loud funny. McCarthy takes us with him on a seeingly random journey around bits of Ireland in the early 'noughties' (the year 2000 to be exact), his main objective is to drink in all the bars named McCarthy. He meets some eccentric characters who are the mainstay of the book, it is the nosy, blunt speaking B&B landladies and the guiless wanna-be-Irish Americ...more
It is ok, it's amusing and in places laugh-out-loud funny. McCarthy takes us with him on a seeingly random journey around bits of Ireland in the early 'noughties' (the year 2000 to be exact), his main objective is to drink in all the bars named McCarthy. He meets some eccentric characters who are the mainstay of the book, it is the nosy, blunt speaking B&B landladies and the guiless wanna-be-Irish Americ...more
Never pass by a bar with your name on it is travel rule #1. Easy to say and do if your name is McCarthy and your traveling through Ireland.
This was both a travelogue and a self-described search for self. I read it for the first. It succeeded for the first, but failed for the second. Some passages made my LOL when I was reading it on the airplane. He had good and funny descriptions of his travels through Ireland.
It felt to me as though someone suggested, after he wrote it, that he might get more...more
This was both a travelogue and a self-described search for self. I read it for the first. It succeeded for the first, but failed for the second. Some passages made my LOL when I was reading it on the airplane. He had good and funny descriptions of his travels through Ireland.
It felt to me as though someone suggested, after he wrote it, that he might get more...more
It was OK, quite interesting in that it was written in 2000 so the contrast between the rapid development then and what we now know to have happened gives it some relevance. However, it was a bit too personal to Mr McCarthy to really grip me.
I loved this book - it was laughing-out-loud funny and a really good travel book about Ireland. It's observant, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable.
Back Cover Blurb:
Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name On It, says the eighth rule of travel: a very rewarding rule if your name is McCarthy and you're wandering through the west of Ireland. As he meanders from Cork to Donegal, Pete encounters many McCarthy's bars in which he explores his confused Irish-Anglo identity with colourful, friendly an...more
Back Cover Blurb:
Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name On It, says the eighth rule of travel: a very rewarding rule if your name is McCarthy and you're wandering through the west of Ireland. As he meanders from Cork to Donegal, Pete encounters many McCarthy's bars in which he explores his confused Irish-Anglo identity with colourful, friendly an...more
1 like · like · see review
Rule #1: Never pass a bar with your name on it!
Although Pete McCarthy was raised in England, his mother hails from West Cork, and, despite never having lived there, he can't shake the strange feeling that Ireland is more home than home. A return pilgrimage reveals immediately why he (or anyone, for that matter) feels "involved and engaged" in Ireland.
While the island is turning into a haven for upmarket tourists--and McCarthy offers outstanding examples of bumbleheaded tourists in action--he sti...more
Although Pete McCarthy was raised in England, his mother hails from West Cork, and, despite never having lived there, he can't shake the strange feeling that Ireland is more home than home. A return pilgrimage reveals immediately why he (or anyone, for that matter) feels "involved and engaged" in Ireland.
While the island is turning into a haven for upmarket tourists--and McCarthy offers outstanding examples of bumbleheaded tourists in action--he sti...more
Borrowed from my girlfriends Irish mother on the promise of a 'beautifully painted picture of Ireland and its inhabitants'. Okay so those werent her exact words but that's what Pete McCarthy delivers.
I've only visited our Guinness drinking friends from across the way once before, and I was very young. After finishing this book I'm keen to visit again and explore some of the less talked about parts of Ireland that McCarthy visits in this travel novel. His wit and humour shine through on every...more
I've only visited our Guinness drinking friends from across the way once before, and I was very young. After finishing this book I'm keen to visit again and explore some of the less talked about parts of Ireland that McCarthy visits in this travel novel. His wit and humour shine through on every...more
This man presented Ireland as we dreamed and the dream turned into a reality. He was witty and open to all the quirkiness that is the Emerald Isles, the absurdities, the fun, the ancient traditions and beliefs and an abundance of warmth and friendships. I know every coin has two sides, but having read this description of Pete McCarthy's journey to his 'mother country' he couldn't help but paint a picture of a delightful and welcoming island. His obsession with his quest to find the best singapor...more
Such a fun book to read. A nonfiction about his adventure through Ireland looking for his roots (his Mother was Irish) and the hilarious stories of the locals and tourist. It serves as a somewhat travel guide. Somewhat because at times he would not tell you where he was for fear the areas would become immensely popular and spoiled. My favorite chapter was the ferry ride from Wales to Ireland. I've been on that ferry, his description brought back a flood of suppressed memories! I'm sorry the auth...more
1 like · like · see review
A 2000 account of the author's trip through western Ireland, place of his Mother's birth, including visits to every bar bearing his surname.
Wonderful descriptions of the landscape and the people.
Author was born in England of an Irish mother and an English father, and spent every summer of his first fifteen years in Ireland. He is a writer of many travel series for radio and tv in the UK. His observations are accurate, and delivered in the most humorous manner. The book was a bestseller in Irela...more
Wonderful descriptions of the landscape and the people.
Author was born in England of an Irish mother and an English father, and spent every summer of his first fifteen years in Ireland. He is a writer of many travel series for radio and tv in the UK. His observations are accurate, and delivered in the most humorous manner. The book was a bestseller in Irela...more
I rarely read bestsellers, but decided to put my snobbish prejudices aside as someone had recommended this to me. Curse them – it was drivel from start to finish, and only mildly humourous at times (admittedly with one laugh out loud moment).
The character descriptions were all painfully overelaborated in order to try make Pete McCarthy’s journey around Ireland seem more interesting than it was, and the “soul searching” felt contrived. Tosh.
Not worthy of more words here, I’m going back to avoidin...more
The character descriptions were all painfully overelaborated in order to try make Pete McCarthy’s journey around Ireland seem more interesting than it was, and the “soul searching” felt contrived. Tosh.
Not worthy of more words here, I’m going back to avoidin...more
McCarthy’s Bar is the story of a middle-aged Englishman with half-Irish ancestry, and his travels through Ireland while searching for a sense of place. A humorous writer, McCarthy has a host of travel rules such as: “Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name On It”; “Never Eat in a Restaurant with Laminated Menus”; and “Never Try and Score Dope From Hassidic Jews While Under the Impression They’re Rastafarians” (page 3).
Read the rest of my review here: http://beckyajohnson.net/2012/06/20/m...
Read the rest of my review here: http://beckyajohnson.net/2012/06/20/m...
Jan 21, 2013
Nancy
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Janet, Linda, Kathy
Recommended to Nancy by:
Gloria
After a very slow start, almost giving up, not even completing the book prior to book club, I am glad that I stuck with this book. It did not get raves from the babes; most had not finished the book, many gave up on it. However, as the few that had finished the book noted, the end was the best part. For me, some of the positive comments made me want to finish the book.
One of my favorite parts were McCarthy's Rules of Travel; the best one being the 8th: "Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name on It....more
One of my favorite parts were McCarthy's Rules of Travel; the best one being the 8th: "Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name on It....more
Pete McCarthy (an Englishman) tours through western Ireland stopping at every pub with his name on it. This book reminds me of Tony Hawks' "Round Ireland with a Fridge" minus the fridge and the hitchhiking. Both are charming and funny and say wonderful things about one of my favorite places - Ireland - and the refreshing Irish people.
He quotes many of his "Rules of Travel" throughout the book - one of my favorite being Rule Number 3: "Never bang on about how wonderful some unspoiled place is; be...more
A wonderful companion to Fields of Athenry - with all the love of Ireland, but no castle and much funnier. He tells all about his interactions with the locals, which is what I wanted more of in Athenry. McCarthy is also sarcastically funny, which I enjoy, has wonderful insight into time, road signs and other aspects of life, plus very solid rules to follow (sample Chinese in every town, always have a drink in a bar named after you, and so forth) when traveling.
It wasn't just witty humor, though....more
It wasn't just witty humor, though....more
This bloke is more cynical than I am, but he makes it work. Very funny book, hilarious at times. A solitary traveler’s eye view of modern Ireland, spoiled by modernity and money. Makes me grateful that I once had a chance to experience “a touch of De Valera’s Ireland” before it became “the Celtic Tiger.”
He would be a gifted people watcher but for his tendency to imagine the worst. He is fair to the Irish. After all, he is half Irish himself. He has mixed emotions about tourists, especially the...more
He would be a gifted people watcher but for his tendency to imagine the worst. He is fair to the Irish. After all, he is half Irish himself. He has mixed emotions about tourists, especially the...more
This was a wildly entertaining book. A lot of people here have complained that McCarthy is "too English" for this to be a good book about Ireland but I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. I'm not Irish (unless you count ancestry like just about everyone else in America does) so this is a witty, charming look at Ireland from an outsider's point of view. Sure he has immediate family there and had been over the sea many times, but it still felt like this was the first journey and I could use thi...more
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“I like reading in a pub rather than a library or study, as it's generally much easier to get a drink.”
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“I reckon if I can't spend the day sleeping, the next best thing is to spend it reading and drinking.”
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Nov 03, 2012 02:39am