1. Marabou Stork Nightmares (1995)
Now I know some of you may be shocked by this being in the number one position, seeing as how it is one of Welsh's lesser known novels, but I feel it deserves to be here. It was his second novel, and I personally feel it is his most impressive and daring to date. The story is split into two sections, and whilst both feature the main character and protagonist, Roy Strang, but both are entirely different to one another. The two sections jump between each other, but to put it plainly, one section concerns Strang's life and attempts to explain how he ended up in a coma, which is where he is narrating from; and the other section is a one fever dream/hallucination where Strang and Sandy Jamieson, his football player guide, travel across Africa trying to hunt down an elusive stork. In theory the two stories should not work with one another, but they tie in together incredibly well and as the story progresses you begin to realise how connected they are and one becomes an allegory for the other. This novel has many of the recurring themes that are found within Welsh's other work, such as; football hooliganism, a very prominent theme in this work and class and race, the sections in Africa (that aren't part of his hallucination) are some brilliant scathing comments on the country and feelings of apartheid at the time. Whilst it may not be as well-known or popular as his other works, and I somehow doubt it will be adapted into a film any time soon; I feel that if you are going to read any Welsh novel (other than Trainspotting, which is generally where people start), this is one to pick up. It shows his range as a writer and echoes back to some of his short stories, where he is willing to show a cutting aspect of realism to the reader, but also mixing it up with some very strange and ridiculous aspects. Well worth a read.