anyone read it?

Yes. It's shit.

I liked it. Read it yonks ago then went to see the stage play, at that time the film hadn't been made and Ewen Bremner (spud) played Renton, with a big scary guy playing Begbie.
The book is much darker than the film, a lot grimmer and a bit more incomprehensible, unless you're unfortunate to be familar with Leith nedspeak, gadge.

Haven't read Porno, looking forward to seeing the movie if it gets made.

Read trainspotting, I don't reckon you'd be dissapointed (unless you're Toxic)

actually, already read it. got it under my belt in a bit over a week. being from the cali sun it took me to the second bit for me to start getting the lingo down.

got trxie reading it now.

barns and nobles didnt have porno yesterday when i went, so i'm gonna looksee it up on ebay.

Very good book indeed, although you seriously do need a degree in Glaswiegian or you'll be reading the same paragraphs over quite often trying to decipher some of it. An uphill struggle in places but worth the effort.

They're from Edinburgh. A degree in Glaswegian would be of fuck all use.

yes, i loved it. depressing as hell though. he also has out a collection of stories in play/theatre script form that were quite good.

Coincidentally I tried to get it from the library today...of course they dont have it. Ive only been fucking around with the library here for a couple of days, but its such shit...oh well.

They did have the play version of it, which I read about 1/4 of before I tossed it. Doesnt seem at all worth the effort...

I loved Trainspotting.
I've read all of his books, and thought they were all good, except for maybe Filth. I couldn't get into it.
Porno is good, but VERY different to Trainspotting. Also Glue, which follows a lot of the characters from Trainspotting, but focuses more on other family members like older brothers.

Did anyone else notice that after being submerged in the scottish vocabulary of the books, they started to use sayings from it in real life? It took me days to get out of the accent.

Ive Have/Read All His Books

The Only Problem With Trainspotting, Is Its So Fucking Hard To Read. It IS An Excellent Story, No Question About It, However With The Scottish Slur, It Takes A Long Time To Read And understand Properlly

Hate to say, i never made it past page 1. I'll give it a try sometime soon.

Aaaah Trainspotting, sitting on the platform in my anorak, flask of tea in one hand notebook in the other, sheer bliss.


What do you mean not that trainspotting!

Kinky McFoxxy spouted:
They're from Edinburgh. A degree in Glaswegian would be of fuck all use.

too funny

J Arthur Rank
Aaaah Trainspotting, sitting on the platform in my anorak, flask of tea in one hand notebook in the other, sheer bliss.


What do you mean not that trainspotting!

definately NOT funny, and all too expected :-P

I must admit I went through a big Stephen King phase so I'm lining up books to pick up afterwards. Maybe once I've read this, i'll be able to understand Vines perfectly enough to visit too.. :-D

excellent book, well recommended along with all his others except perhaps 'ecstacy'
'maribou stork nightmares' is great

NaughtyKitten spouted:
Did anyone else notice that after being submerged in the scottish vocabulary of the books, they started to use sayings from it in real life? It took me days to get out of the accent.

Och aye the noo, ah did tae so ah didnae by ra way 'n nat no, ken, ya dos cunt yeh.

Y'see. If I can do it, anyone can write like Mr. Welsh.

Oh and it's not "Scottish vocabulary", it's soap dodging Embra scumbag vocabularly. By the way. So it is. 'N nat. <sniff>

Porno is three times better, and far far funnier ;)

I have it, but I think UnoChild is loaning it soonish... if anyone wants it after him, let me know.

Porno's a much better novel, but better understood and appreciated if you've read Trainspotting, I think.

And don't give up with 'Glue'. It's fantastic too.

porno isn't all that, it's 'trainspotting-lite'

It is completely different to trainspotting, even down to the writing style. Its seen through the eyes of every single character and ties it all up beautifully.

And, its based around sex... rather than drugs... a much better subject.

i agree, they are very different books,

sex is never as good on paper as in the flesh, whereas drugs can seem much better in literature than in reality
but there again, trainspotting isn't just about drugs

hugo-a-gogo spouted:
i agree, they are very different books,

sex is never as good on paper as in the flesh, whereas drugs can seem much better in literature than in reality
but there again, trainspotting isn't just about drugs

Disagree. If you have enough imagination a book is always better than a film... and sometimes better than experiences you have in the flesh... *looks at ex-wife*

[QUOTE]hugo-a-gogo spouted:
sex is never as good on paper as in the flesh, QUOTE]

You should see some of the magazines I've got, huurgh, huurgh.

hugo-a-gogo spouted:
'maribou stork nightmares' is great

Didn't like that all that much, it seemed to be a crass version of The Bridge by Iain Banks. Too similar, not as stylish or imaginitive.

I'm getting a shot of Porno tomorrow.

hmm having read both i don't see many similarities, other than the fact that both involve someone in a coma

netniV spouted:


Disagree. If you have enough imagination a book is always better than a film... and sometimes better than experiences you have in the flesh... *looks at ex-wife*

who was talking about films?

dogbomb spouted:
Porno is three times better, and far far funnier ;)

I have it, but I think UnoChild is loaning it soonish... if anyone wants it after him, let me know.

hand raised highly in the air, Catch_52 shouts: Oooh, oooh. Pick me, pick me!

The Acid House is also a blooming good read , 3 short stories containing Welsh's ever entertaining look on north edinburgh scum

..... who are sexually deviant hooligans and such like :D An exellent dark read :D

hugo-a-gogo spouted:


who was talking about films?

Try reading the whole post and not half a post :P

magicguppy spouted:


Didn't like that all that much, it seemed to be a crass version of The Bridge by Iain Banks.

The Bridge! That really is mince. Banks is hit and miss with his books.

I liked the film and am half way through the book but it's a bit jumpy and difficult to follow. He keeps switching between first person narritive of different characters and I can't keep up with who is speaking at any one time. At the moment, I'm preferring the film and that's never happened before.

Ronin Da Bomb spouted:
Ive Have/Read All His Books

The Only Problem With Trainspotting, Is Its So Fucking Hard To Read. It IS An Excellent Story, No Question About It, However With The Scottish Slur, It Takes A Long Time To Read And understand Properlly

I find his use of capitalisation hard to deal with. ;)

Corking book. Athens isn't known as the Edinburgh of the South for nothing, y'know.

Loved it, read the book, saw the play, saw the film, bought the cd. Came a bit obsessed by it.

Got to meet Irvine Welsh last year :D Tried not to bore the tits off him :o

The book of Trainspotting is fantastic. Contains much more detail and background, and the characters have a lot more depth. Begby for example - if you thought Begby was a violent fucker in the film, well, he is a complete fucking lunatic in the book.
IMO the best way to read Trainspotting is by thinking "Rab C Nesbit". Easy enough with that accent in yer heed.

Have recently bought Porno, but haven't had time to start reading it yet....

Rab C is the wrong side of the country- totally different accent. The Edinburgh ned has more of an inflection at the end of his sentences, ken?

Well, to a Yorkshire bloke like me, thinkin of Rab did the trick. :D

That's like reading Oliver Twist and thinking of Corrie :S

"Can I have some more ta chuck"

:D

I read this book. Needed lots of help from Bungee to understand it but it was worth the effort.
Good book.
I was proud of myself for two weeks afterwards.

I thought it was pretty good, but agree it is fucking difficult to understand which character was talking when.

Haven't read Porno (which appears to be the second most widely read book), but Filth is lovely if you fancy reading about the most depraved human being you will ever know.

Both of them had me thinking like a fake scot for a good three days, and then having to double check I wasn't actually speaking like I was thinking.

But that's proabably just me

I sometimes go back to it,even though i wrote it 20 years ago .Still get pissed of that i didn't get the Dundee-Newcastle mainline Northern section completed ,i missed the RN12365 buffet coach ,and the Royal Mail alnighter 6745(which incidently carried the daily milk to Dungess).
Still can't believe you got hold of a copy of what i considered a hobby at the time.
....... Oh,shit ,THAT trainspotting book.

Trendy wank for fucking middle-class students who think it's cool to be poor.


Oh yes...fuck you all.