Slight, slightly amusing, stories about the smug writer of an irredeemably long grammar book. ( )

The first instalment in the humorous misadventures of the pompous and socially inept academic, Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. I listened to the unabridged audiobook version read by Hugh Laurie. The narration is a treat and the vignettes are particularly funny for anyone who has had the pleasure of encountering such academics :) ( )

A Light Collection of Vignettes for Fans Only

Alexander McCall Smith , author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, shifts away from the mystery genre with his series of short novels featuring Professor Dr. Von Igelfeld, the first of which is Portuguese Irregular Verbs, named after the main character's academic magnum opus. A series of light vignettes, the books follows Dr. Von Igelfeld's misadventures as he tries to assert himself as an intellectual in the lost field of romantic philology as well to gain respect from his fellow academics. The results include dangerous amateur duels, obscenities from archaic Ireland, an unsavory tour of India, and toxic water in Venice. Along the way we also meet interesting secondary characters such as a racist Italian innkeeper and a dentist fatale.

While a bit unexpected for fans of his mystery series, the book provides a break from hard-boiled murders and gives us the light side of Mr. McCall Smith. His character Von Igelfeld is thoroughly an underdog and awkwardly lovable, and with each story, we cheer for him even though we know it will not turn out well for him. Despite this, however, the British/European humor is sometimes lost in translation, and for whatever humor there is to laugh at, it is usually a light chuckle or two, not something on the scale of say the Monty Pythons (but of course, the Monty Pythons are in a class of their own).

Overall, the book should be taken as it is: not a serious work of fiction, not part of his usual writing, but something light that can be read in a couple of sittings. However, with this said, the average reader would be disappointed. This should only be recommended to loyal McCall Smith fans. ( )

Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Entertainments Series:
These are collections of short stories, each book being fairly short. The eponymous professor is incredibly conceited, which conceit places him in rather humorous situations.

This is the first in the "Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Entertainment Series."
These books (the next two are "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" and "At the
Villa of Reduced Circumstances") were written by the author of the No. 1
Ladies Detective Agency series. I haven't read any of those, either, so
this was my first introduction to this author.

Dr. von Igelfeld is a German academic, who associates with other lettered
academics in a very dry and boring academic world where hardly anyone ever
has an original thought. He is the author of the 1200 page exhaustive
research work "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" and has been living off the
"fame" of having written such a tome for the past ten years. The fact that
it has only sold 200 copies in 10 years is beside the point; the man is
published and that's the important thing. This is the insane and rarified
world of Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute of Romance
Philology. His is a never ending quest to win the respect he feels certain
he is due -- a quest which has the tendency to go hilariously astray. In
this book, Professor Dr. von Igelfeld learns to play tennis, forces a
college chum to enter into a duel that results in a nipped nose, takes a
field trip to Ireland where be becomes acquainted with the rich world of
archaic Irishisms and is introduced to early Irish pornography, and develops
an aching infatuation with a beautiful dentist. Along the way, he take two
ill-fated Italian sojourns, the first merely uncomfortable, the second
definitely dangerous.

The wit is dry and the humor sneaks up on you in this book. Another work of
minutia and seeing the world through the eyes of someone else with a
slightly sheltered, definitely warped viewpoint. This book won't be for
everyone, but it appeals to my sense of the absurd, and I'll be reading the
other books in the series, I'm sure. It gets a 3.5. ( )