Portuguese Irregular Verbs

If PG Wodehouse had ever written a gentle spoof of European academia of a bygone age, it might have read something like this amusing little work.

In 2003, Alexander McCall Smith (author of the Ladies Number One Detective Agency series) penned an unlikely trilogy of novelettes about a German professor of philology and his social milieu. This work, the first in the series, consists of eight vignettes that are intended as a light hearted parody of the pretensions of the professoriate, and their harmless preoccupations with obscure scholarship and professional status. No one familiar with academia on either side of the Atlantic will mistake Smith's perspective for anything like the real thing; in fact, his little tales were clearly show more written more from imagination than acquaintance (notwithstanding Smith's past as a professor of law at Edinburgh), and feel as if they were set in some previous century.

At 128 pages, this modest little work asks little of the reader and repays in kind -- but reading it is likely to bring a few smiles, if not an occasional chuckle of amusement. show less

I don't normally give fives, especially for fiction, but this book captures the fastidiousness of Germans and German scholars quite well. But., most importantly, it captures the rarefied and sheltered world of academics who are all too haughty, self-righteous, and self-important, pretentious blowhards, ranging from lovably pompous to off-puttingly pompous. Not only that, these are funny and entertaining little novellas. And thus, they do exactly what they're supposed to do. Classic literature? No. But fun? Yes. When you discover the worst thing that could happen is putting Portuguese Irregular Verbs into storage... priceless.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs (and the rest of the von Igelfeld series) is completely hilarious. I've read this book several times, and I laugh out loud every time. The humor is VERY dry, and this book is definitely not for everyone. But if you like dry humor and are interested in the adventures of a very eccentric philologist, I urge you to read Portuguese Irregular Verbs (one of my favorite books of all time).

A solid three stars for this short and modestly amusing book. In a series of loosely related episodes, Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria Von Igelfeld moves from small triumphs to minor defeats and embarrassments and back again. His ponderings, which tend to focus on small professional rivalries, but sometimes wander into the theological and ontological, are both very plausible and mildly repellent. Igelfeld is fussy, often petty, and occasionally vindictive. His small intrigues almost invariably go wrong for him, but still he manages to maintain an impressive and rather endearing self-confidence and optimism. He reminds me very much of Basil Fawlty, from the old BBC series, Fawlty Towers, only with unassailable equanimity replacing poor show more Basil's helpless fury and despair. Infuriating, obnoxious, and hopelessly prone to the most absurd misfortunes and misunderstandings, you nevertheless find yourself sympathizing with Igelfeld and hoping that things will go well for him. show less

This book is really a collection of unconnected short stories, and is rather light on plot. I enjoyed it, but I won't pursue other books in this series. I do however look forward to reading some of Alexander McAll Smith's other books.

That's what I wrote yesterday.

Today I've changed my mind. In a strange way I've become quite fond of Professor Von Igelfeld. He's rather like the relative who embarrasses you every time you see him, but you miss him when he's not there. Last night I felt a little hollow when I realised I didn't have a Von Igelfeld audiobook to listen to. So not being fond of hollow feelings at bedtime I've decided that I will, after all, be adding the next book in the series to my to read shelf. I'm sure Professor Von show more Igelfeld will be most gratified. show less

Professor von Igelfeld and his fellow academics who study Romance languages get into various scrapes over time and place.

This book is entertaining but slight. It is told in an almost vignette style, reminding me of the children's book series Charlie and Mouse. It even has some illustrations, which in my opinion add basically nothing to the book. (Why do full-grown adults need a black-and-white drawing of a tome to understand what a book is?)

Honestly, I wasn't overly impressed with this book and much prefer McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. However, since this book was a quick read and a nice reprieve from the darker titles I tend to read, I decided to keep on with the series.

Short, episodic chapters tell the humorous shenanigans of Professor von Igelfeld, the author of the eponymous Portuguese Irregular Verbs, and his compatriots Prinzel and Unterholzer.

Von Igelfeld is a sort of hapless bumbler who can't get the recognition he so desires for his niche philological studies, and his adventures made me smile. After much trial and tribulation, I managed to get a copy of the audio version read by Hugh Laurie (apparently it's really difficult to find in the U.S. library system!), and I enjoyed his presentation of it. He does an excellent job with multiple accents and characters, and brings out the humor in the situations in which the professors find themselves in. Light, fun reading.