Portuguese Irregular Verbs (2004)

By Alexander McCall Smith
Another one by McCall Smith, but featuring another of his characters, Professor Dr von Igelfeld, a German philologist (word freak) whose seminal work is entitled “Portuguese Irregular Verbs”. This collection of stories describes some of Igelfeld’s adventures with his two closest colleagues, Professor Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer (a quote for my friend Detlev: “…to be called Detlev was a misfortune…”), and Professor Dr Dr Florainus Prinzel, all who work at the Institute of Romance Philology.

I became quite fond of Professor Dr von Igelfeld and his slightly aquiline nose by the end of the book; Igelfeld is proud, arrogant and a snob, but also socially hapless and fond of walks through the countryside and pleasant views. He also realises his failings every so often (particular with respect to the hapless Unterholzer) and tries to make some amends.

I’m starting to think of McCall Smith as a modern Wodehouse – a writer of gentle, entertaining stories about eccentric characters with peculiar names, which occasionally provoke emotion, sometimes cause the reader to laugh (or at least smile), and that function as “an entertainment” (the author describes his book on the cover as “A Professor Dr von Igelfeld Entertainment”), rather than great literature. The world needs books like these, but I doubt they will end up on anyone’s Top 100 Books of All Time list – those seem to be reserved for heavier, worthier and more indigestible tomes.

A good holiday read – I’ll give Dr von Igelfeld another go.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10