Just one of the best books I've ever read...bleak, hysterical, horrific, fantastic, revolting, fascinating...completely absorbing, absolutely amazing.

This is my original copy that I bought when it first came out in paperback, so it's certainly done the rounds a bit over the years (off the top of my head I know that as well as being read by me, it briefly stayed with my friend Lou, her sister Roz, my sister AlicatZ and my boy), but I wanted to register it in readiness for Round Two of the Tutti Frutti Book-Box as it is definitely up there in my own personal Big Read Top Twenty...

Headed out to Kittiwake on 3rd Feb 2004.

Irvine Welsh is a bit of a departure for me, but as it is one of lucycat's favourite books I'll give it a go.

I'm over half way through "Marabou Stork Nightmares" and I'm loving it. Roy's African fantasy is so interesting, especially the way it keeps slipping out of his control, with the increasing frequency of homoerotic moments that he tries to suppress. I spotted the Famous Five influence immediately, in the outdated slang he & Sandy use and the obsession with picnics and typically English food.

Bookcrossing is definitely getting me to read a wider range of books than I used to. I didn't expect to like MSN at all. Thanks lucycat.

Now that I've finished it, I'm even more impressed. Roy's fantasies are an escape from his real life, and as the book progresses you learn more about his life and realise why he is so loathe to wake up from his coma. But he gradually loses control of his fantasy as his inner demons break through, just as he had lost control of his life.

To be passed on at Saturday's Nottingham meet-up.

Back home with me again now, to pass on again (prob. at the next Leeds meet.) Wonder if there's a standing record for the number of times you've 'caught' a specific copy of book??

Thanks for bringing this along, Isabel - I'll find a new home for it soon!

Release planned for Tuesday, June 08, 2004 at The Angel in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England United Kingdom.

As promised, I'll be whisking this one away to the Leeds meet on Tuesday night - see you there? :O)

This appeared at a Leeds club meeting at the Angel, and it went straight in my bag. Damn Irving Welsh. The skin's peeling off your arms and it's nasty but you can't resist picking it, and then it comes off in a big sheet and it hurts. I was unable to resist this and am 100 pages in and it's only a day after receiving it... Thanks LucyCat - more please!

I didn't take that long to read it! It's just taken ages to get round to releasing / reviewing. I found this book hard to like just because the characters portrayed in it are so horribly well done. The excerpts of hallucination where the central character battles the storks take on the quality of a sick joke when you've learned more about him. Don't be put off though, it is a good read.

Release planned for forthcoming Bookcrossing meeting at the Angel pub, Leeds, UK, back to the group I got it from.

And back to me again...one last appearance at the Hull Meet, I think, and I'll stop picking it up every time I see it...

To be released at the Second Hull Meet tonight, further details can always be found at Hull BookCrossing MeetUp Group

Hope to see you there!

Scooped bu someone at the Hull Meet way back when - am just journalling to clean up the Mission release notes!

Retrospective release notes for a controlled release that's still out there...somewhere...

I had a copy of this some years ago but never finished reading it (lord knows what happened to it). So I was glad to borrow another copy at the Hull BC meeting. To Be Read soon as.

A magnificent tour de force of a book. It is one you have to be persistent with however, as for the first 40 or so pages it is virtually impossible to know what on earth is supposed to be going on!! Patience is rewarded though. This is a shocking book and in places is very hard to read, as is typical with Welch, but if you can stomach it, it is a must-read. A masterpiece.

And now it's going back to Hull BookCrossers' August meet. Will be released there this evening.

Marabou Stork Nightmares has arrived in the US. Thank you so much for sharing this, I read Trainspotting years ago and have been curious to read more of Welsh's work. I will be sure to find some other bookcrossers to pass this on to once I'm finished. Thanks also for the nice bookmark, the card and teabags!!

I LOVED this book! It was way more than I expected. I had read Welsh's Trainspotting many years ago, and am so glad I tried and loved another of his books. I love his style of writing. The dialect is no problem for me. This was a great read, very emotional, and kept me on the edge of my seat, just itching to find out the whole story! I did not see the end coming! The Stork hunting scenes were an awesome added bonus to the whole story. Also, here is a picture I took of a Marabou Stork at our local zoo! Thanks for sharing this, it will be handed off to another bookcrosser soon!

Gave this to labmomnm today. She has never read Welsh, she sure is in for a treat with this one!

Picked up from Jare 2 days ago - sorry for the delay in "catching".

I agree with volocity's take on this - horrible, yet enthralling & incredible. I'm waffling on the stars...it got "dinged" a few because of the ick-factor, but was still amazing. Our, ummm, "hero's" answer to my continual, "how could someone do something like that?" question was probably very close to the truth & wasn't something that had really occurred to me, before - some people just aren't strong enough to resist such behavior. Scary.

I wasn't sure who this should go to, so I asked Jare for suggestions; he thought Firegirl might like it and she said she'd be interested, so it will go to her (mailed 27 January '07).

Arrived safely today -- that was quick! I haven't read anything by Welsh before, but as Jare told Labmomnm, I am definitely game for giving any bizarre fiction a shot. All the positive reviews definitley have me interested as well. I'll get to this ASAP and then find another BCer to pass it on to. Thanks to all for getting this to me!

I've dabbled in the world of "strange fiction" before, but this was my first taste of Welsh's work. (I've neither seen nor read Trainspotting, though I admit I'm now curious.)

The dialect took a bit of getting used to, especially as I was frequently trying to read it in a noisy environment, but I eventually got the hang of it and was able to focus more on the storyline. I enjoyed the parallels of the different stories and was glad I picked up on the Stork-is-Roy theme from the beginning, even though I wasn't 100% sure how it was all going to come together. The whole "destruction of innocence/beauty" theme so often seems overdone, but Welsh definitely paints it in a new light and makes it more palitable.

I enjoyed the strong, bold characters, though I definitely didn't like them as people, which is to be expected. They, along with all the fighting, drugs, sex and violence reminded me very much of A Clockwork Orange, which I liked. In fact, this has made me want to reread that title, as it has been many years since I first read it.

All in all, definitely interesting. I did enjoy it, on several levels. It is sick-fascination reading, to be sure, but there is more to it. Lots of deep meaning here that I will be turning over for some time to come. Thanks to Jare and Labmomnm for getting this to me! (I'm also glad to now have some more ideas of who to offer MY strange fiction to when I'm done reading it!) I'll be RABCKing this away as soon as I have a suitable recipient.

RABCKing away to Australia! Enjoy!

Arrived safely! Thanks so much for all that are involved in this travelling book. I haven't read Irvine Welsh, but I chose to see Trainspotting on the special night when I knew I was going to be proposed to (how romantic), so I think I will probably cope. However, I think I will wait until I am not pregnant to read this, as it seems to be a bit violent/graphic. So there will be a bit of a wai before I get to it.