Alexander McCall Smith. Portuguese Irregular Verbs. New York: Random, 2003. Print.

Having enjoyed a number of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books, as readers of this blog realize, I tried another of Smith’s book series. Portuguese Irregular Verbs is the first in the series that has come to be known as the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series. The books feature socially awkward linguistics professor Dr. Iglefeld from Germany. His chef d’œuvre is a 1200 page tome entitled Portuguese Irregular Verbs. This tells us that McCall’s book is an academic spoof.

The humorous and detached tone reminds the reader of a Father Brown story. Like Father Brown books, Portuguese Irregular Verbs is a collection of short stories or vignettes. As Ralph Cramden in The Honeymooners was always trying some get rich quick scheme, so Dr. Iglefeld constantly tries to get more academic recognition.

The professor certainly does not have the depth of Precious Ramotswe of the Ladies’ Detective Agency, but one cannot help but think that this book does present a stereotyped academic. Worrying about publishing, presenting papers at academic fora, and networking with jealous colleagues make up the quiet, slow life of the professor. (Notice, like a true academic, I wrote fora, the correct Latin, not forums, the vulgarized English.)

The true jealous colleagues are the gymnasium (i.e., high school) teachers who say to themselves, “Man, if I had the time Inglefeld had, I’d be cranking out books the way Alexander McCall Smith does!”