Pete McCarthy - Essential Reading

I spend a lot of my time travelling or staying in hotels, so an extensive reading list is essential. These are the ones in my bag at the moment;

McCarthy’s Bar and Road to McCarthy - Pete McCarthy

These are probably my two favourite books ever, they were recommended to my mum by a family friend and have been swapped around and re-read by all of us ever since. (The state of the covers are testament to their greatness)

Pete McCarthy was a comedian, radio presenter and writer and these books (his only two before his death in 2004) are an absolute triumph of witty, endearing and relatable thoughtfulness. Pete’s two travel rules (and now my own) are; never pass a bar with your name on it, and on entering a new town buy a copy of the local paper and read it over a local brew in the nearest pub

The first book McCarthys Bar documents his adventures exploring his Irish heritage. It starts with his trip back to his hometown in Ireland and continues across the country. The second book Road to McCarthy documents his trip to the town bearing his name in the US.

Pete was writing a third book before he sadly passed away before it could be completed.
These books are an absolute must for anyone travelling, the characters and places they document are so genuinely funny it makes them extremely hard to put down.