Portuguese Irregular Verbs (2003)

Complete return to form by this author after the unfortunate The Sunday Philosophy Club. Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igenfeld is a gem. ( )

It flags a bit, but by the end it's all worth it. ( )

[Portuguese Irregular Verbs] by [[Alexander McCall Smith]], author of the [No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency] series, is another wonderful addition to the humorous fiction genre. Professor Dr. von Igelfeld is a very smart, very specialized (witness his 1200 page magnum opus "Portuguese Irregular Verbs"), and very naive professor. He and his professor friends get into humuous contretemps dealing with the real world as well as the perils of academe.

The pacing and understated writing style is similar to [No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency], but the characters are more unbelievable and fantastic. My wife felt it was too silly. I loved it. Your mileage may vary. ( )

http://tinyurl.com/cm833sh

Say what? That's the ending? Oh, it's a damn trilogy. OK, Mr. McCall Smith, here's the thing about trilogies. You actually bother to end each and every one of the three books in them. You don't just fade off into nothingness at the end of the first one. (Nope, Lord of the Rings doesn't count, so don't even bring it up.) Like, excuse me, but how many dangling threads are you going to leave us? And, why should I care about pompous old Herr Doktor Professoren, anyway? I'll review this when I finish the trilogy. Which will be never. ( )

Each chapter is a stand-alone story about Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld and his colleagues. Actually too droll for my taste. ( )