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Irvine Welsh

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Irvine Welsh


Born
in Leith, Scotland
September 27, 1958

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Probably most famous for his gritty depiction of a gang of Scottish Heroin addicts, Trainspotting (1993), Welsh focuses on the darker side of human nature and drug use. All of his novels are set in his native Scotland and filled with anti-heroes, small time crooks and hooligans. Welsh manages, however to imbue these characters with a sad humanity that makes them likable despite their obvious scumbaggerry. Irvine Welsh is also known for writing in his native Edinburgh Scots dialect, making his prose challenging for the average reader unfamiliar with this style.

Average rating: 3.96 · 348,636 ratings · 11,886 reviews · 141 distinct worksSimilar authors
Trainspotting

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4.10 avg rating — 168,766 ratings — published 1993 — 179 editions
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Filth

3.81 avg rating — 30,134 ratings — published 1998 — 76 editions
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Porno (Mark Renton, #3)

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3.84 avg rating — 25,279 ratings — published 2002 — 56 editions
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Skagboys (Mark Renton, #1)

4.05 avg rating — 16,579 ratings — published 2012 — 41 editions
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The Acid House

3.74 avg rating — 16,831 ratings — published 1994 — 64 editions
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Glue

3.89 avg rating — 14,429 ratings — published 2001 — 47 editions
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Marabou Stork Nightmares

3.91 avg rating — 12,312 ratings — published 1995 — 37 editions
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Ecstasy

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3.60 avg rating — 10,633 ratings — published 1996 — 57 editions
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The Blade Artist (Mark Rent...

3.83 avg rating — 7,328 ratings — published 2016 — 32 editions
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The Bedroom Secrets of the ...

3.53 avg rating — 6,849 ratings — published 2006 — 53 editions
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More books by Irvine Welsh…
Skagboys Trainspotting Porno The Blade Artist Dead Men's Trousers
(5 books)
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4.06 avg rating — 222,205 ratings

Glue Porno A Decent Ride
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3.86 avg rating — 43,000 ratings

Crime The Long Knives
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3.66 avg rating — 6,448 ratings

Related News

His Favorite Books About Addiction: The Trainspotting author revives his gang of Edinburgh heroin junkies in a new book, Skagboys, and offers five...
25 likes · 10 comments
Quotes by Irvine Welsh  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“You can't lie to your soul.”
Irvine Welsh, Porno

“Choose a life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers... Choose DSY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away in the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself, choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that?”
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting

“We start off with high hopes, then we bottle it. We realise that we’re all going to die, without really finding out the big answers. We develop all those long-winded ideas which just interpret the reality of our lives in different ways, without really extending our body of worthwhile knowledge, about the big things, the real things. Basically, we live a short disappointing life; and then we die. We fill up our lives with shite, things like careers and relationships to delude ourselves that it isn’t all totally pointless.”
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting

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