irvine welsh - C or D?

He's outstayed his welcome really. In the early days I would say he was best sticking to what he knew (ie junky low-life in Scotland). Whenever he tried something else (eg London football hooligans) it just didn't work. Nowadays I'd say he doesn't even do the Scottish stuff that well. He's drifted into self-parody. Also, when a book (like Glue) is written in the first person through the eyes of someone who's really inarticulate it doesn't make for that good a read.

I'd be interested to know how many americans could understand trainspotting what with being written phonetically and all. i think I only grasped it because i had, unfortunately, been hanging out with a glaswegian for a year or so.

Trainspotting was great at the time, although re-reading isn't nearly as rewarding. It still works best as a series of shorts, and benefits from reading that way.
The Acid House reads like a James Kelman tribute (except The Granton Star Cause) and is all the weaker for it. Some of it, however, is amongst the best stuff he's written (such as A Smart Cunt - despite that being the most Kelman-esque).
Maribou Stork Nightmares is the most complete book he's written, and probably the best, but re-reading is an effort akin to working through Celine or Hubert Selby Jr. The African plot is a joy.
Only the third story is any good in Ecstacy. Still, that's what happens when you write as a "celebrity".
Filth is utter shite, and largely unreadable. More "celebrity" writing, only experimental. His 'Kid A'. Only irredeemably shite.
Glue is a return to form, and creates a set of characters as memorable as Trainspotting - albeit with a kind of wishy-washy Liberalism beginning to pervade what appear to be the most sympathetic.
Porno is what it's supposed to be - the novelisation of the script to "Trainspotting 2". It does well at amalgamating the two character sets (Trainspotting and Glue) into one coherent history and would have made a great film.

Possibly the best work not hugely published is "The Rosewell Incident", printed in "Children Of Albion Rovers".

I forgot about that one - aliens taking over Scotland, wasn't it? There was another good short story in a compilation of various authors' short stories (possibly called Disco Biscuits). If I remember rightly it involves two mates having a night out with a dead bloke that they keep failing to get rid of.