The WTF? Book Club discussion

So with the trailer for "Trainspotting 2" now released I thought I'd ask what the group thought about Irvine Welsh who wrote the original novel aswell as its sequel "Porno" which this new film will be a loose adaptation off due to Danny Boyle not being a fan of the book.

Still what do you think of his books?

Welsh is one of my favorites. His earlier books are in my top of the tops, but his latter books are very enjoyable, satisfying reads, as well. Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares, Filth, Glue, The Acid House, Ecstasy are all classics. I've read all his books and enjoyed them all... except for Crime--go ahead and skip that one, altho there is somehow a TV series being made out of it now. Anyway, if you like offbeat fiction, you'll probably like Welshy.

I definitely enjoy his work but for me Porno was an incredibly difficult read. There was a part of me throughout that felt as though he was trying to hard to achieve the shock factor when in earlier works this was achieved with a more subtle dialogue than Porno.
I'm looking forward to trainspotting 2 but I don't have high hopes for it.

I've avoided his books after failing to get into "Glue". Just find them so hard to get into when he insists on writing his books as the characters would talk with their accent. The end result being that I spent too much time getting used to the language to focus on the story.

Completely agree it takes determination to get into the accent reading but can be worth it. Definitely found he was attempting to shock from page 1 and I enjoy a more subtle approach. I think using the accent adds to that as well and allows him to go overboard with the characters but it's not for me.

The fact that he writes most of his dialogue in dialect is part of why I love his books. The dialect of Edinburgh, especially, is fascinating as there's a huge variety just from that one spot. I think the phonetic spelling and everything adds a huge layer to the overall effect of his books, when he uses that technique. But, it's not for everyone. I think you definitely get used to it after about half a book, though, and then it starts to read more smoothly for all books thereafter.

He's certainly an author that we should cover again on the group, maybe even redo "Filth" if that's what the group wants as didn't really grab anyone to discuss it the first time round, but by the looks of things there would be atleast 3 people to discuss it this time.

I would be happy to give his books another try I was a lot younger when I first read him so may have a new perspective now. Maybe Logan could recommend an earlier book for the next read?

His earlier books are all fantastic, but my personal favorite is MARABOU STORK NIGHTMARES. It's grounded in Welsh's usual Edinburgh projects scene, but there's a very odd, very engaging fantasy element to it to. It's brutal and beautiful and very unique.

Am I right in thinking that he's dropped the local dialect in the newer books?

Sounds great to me Logan. I'm always up for a reading challenge.

One of his recent books (Sex Lives of Siamese Twins) was set in Miami with American characters, so no dialect there. I loved that book, personally. But he does still use the dialect. The last few books (The Blade Artist and A Decent Ride) did use the phonetic spellings.