P is for Porno

P is for Porno. No, not what you're thinking!

For this year's A to Z I'm featuring books I've read based on the Reading Challenge.

Today's book is one that was originally written in a different language. I'm fudging things a bit and including Porno by Irvine Welsh, the sequel to Trainspotting. They're written in English, of course, but the Scottish characters' accents and word usage are spelled phonetically.

I picked up the book at the Salon du Livre in Geneva last spring, where I met Irvine Welsh!

Here's what I reported at the time:
I couldn't think of an intelligent question. One person asked if there'll be a sequel to the Trainspotting movie and the short answer is maybe. The intriguing bit was that, apparently, a little while ago, Welsh and Danny Boyle and a couple of others locked themselves into an Edinburgh apartment for a week to talk about the books and the movie and see if they could start hashing out script ideas. That would have been a great week during which to be a fly on the wall!


Me!

One other interesting I learned is that Welsh's writing style changes with every book. Sometimes he'll work 9 to 5, other times he'll work late at night; sometimes he'll write at a desk with notes and Post-its everywhere, other times he'll write outside the house... One book was written while riding the Circle Line of the London Tube, apparently!


I suppose I could have mentioned some Turkish or German or French books. Someday I'd like to try reading in Spanish and Russian too.

Which languages do you read in?

Comments

Zan Marie said…
LOL! Now that's a post title, Deniz! You got me to read it. ;-)
Hi Deniz - what happened to the Cornish or Welsh books?

How fantastic to read that Welsh wrote on the Circle line .. incredible .. I do like peace and quiet to write in ..

Brilliant you met him .. looks like Nina Alex behind you ...

I've never heard of Porno - and have never seen or read Trainspotting .. I have a high regard for Boyle and Welsh though ..

Cheers Hilary
Nick Wilford said…
Trainspotting the film is a classic. I once tried to read it, but couldn't get past a couple of pages with the accent. Now I've lived in Scotland over ten years, I might try again!

And the tube might be one place you could write undisturbed, as it's forbidden to even make eye contact with anyone...
At least you didn't have to talk for the picture.
I can pick out a few words in Spanish, German, and a couple other languages, but not enough to read a book.
Nicky said…
Oh, Trainspotting has been on my TBR list forEVER! I'll get to it one day, I swear.

I read in English, obviously and sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly mighty, I'll read very, very, very slowly in Japanese.

<a href="https://njmagas.wordpress.com/“>N J Magas, author</a>
Nicky said…
Oh, Trainspotting has been on my TBR list forEVER! I'll get to it one day, I swear.

I read in English, obviously and sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly mighty, I'll read very, very, very slowly in Japanese.

<a href="https://njmagas.wordpress.com/“>N J Magas, author</a>
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks everyone!
About the only thing I can do consistently in other languages is count to five. Though my accent (especially in Welsh or Swedish) must be atrocious!