I've just managed to get hold of the new Irvine Welsh book Crime.
I had never read anything of his up until last year. Last summer I managed to get through all his published novels and collections of short stories.
I grew up in Leith, where most of his books are set, we follow the same football team, Hibs, we also seem to share a very similar life.
Reading his books often feels like reading my autobiography, it feels a bit weird at times.
Many of my friends wont read his books, they are not to happy with how he portrays where we grew up. He certainly divides opinion among folk in Edinburgh.
If you grew up or live in Leith or north Edinburgh lots of the characters in his book are recognisable. Then again Grand Theft Auto was created in the same part of the world and if you pay attention while playing the game you will notice lots of the characters are based on real life Edinburgh folk.
