I tried this before the film came out and found the Scottish dialect difficult to cope with and gave up. Then I saw the film and was able to return to the book with their voices in my head and found it to be very different and absolutely brilliant; not for the faint-hearted.
Listen to an audio extract by clicking on the orange arrow below.
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh by Random House Audiobooks
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Recommendations: |
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Closing date: 04/07/2026
Choose us. Choose life. Choose mortgage payments; choose washing machines; choose cars; choose sitting on a couch watching mind-numbing and spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away, pishing and shiteing yersel in a home, a total fucking embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you've produced. Choose life.
Ewan McGregor starred in the cult 1996 adaptation, which was directed by Danny Boyle. To play Renton McGregor gave up alcohol and dairy products for two months, though ironically the faeces in the Worst Toilet in Scotland were made of chocolate.
Trainspotting features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Trainspotting is available in Hardback, Paperback
Trainspotting was written by Irvine Welsh and published by Vintage
Trainspotting has 343 pages
