David Fleming has been an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a journalist, whose articles have appeared in the Guardian, Independent, The Telegraph and the Mail of Sunday.
His new book is Hellfire: Evelyn Waugh and the Hypocrites Club.
At the Guardian Fleming tagged ten notable books about hellraisers, including:
Trainspotting by Irvine WelshRead about the other entries on the list.
Most of the main characters – the Skagboys – use heroin. One who doesn’t stands out: the violent, vainglorious alcoholic Franco Begbie. Set in Edinburgh at the fagend of the Thatcher era, the anomie and despair of the central characters, though never preached, is clear. In a key scene Begbie and protagonist Renton encounter an “auld drunkard” in a now defunct railway station. “What yis up tae lads? Trainspottin, eh?” “Ah realised thit the auld wino wis Begbie’s faither.”
Trainspotting is on the Scottish Book Trust's list of favorite Scottish novels of the last 50 years, Melvin Burgess's top five list of books on drugs and John Mullan's list of ten of the best drug experiences in literature.
--Marshal Zeringue
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