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Portuguese Irregular Verbs (Von Igelfeld 1) | 
| Author: Alexander Mccall Smith
Creator: Hugh Laurie
Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Category: Book
List Price: $26.85
Buy New: $14.98
You Save: $11.87 (44%)
New (10) Used (2) from $14.98
Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 2389280
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.3 x 4.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 140550059X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781405500593
ASIN: 140550059X
Publication Date: August 5, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Alexander McCall Smith, best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, has turned his hand to humour. The delightful result is a creation of comic genius. For in the unnaturally tall form of Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, we are invited to meet a memorable character whose sublime insouciance is a blend of the cultivated pomposity of Frasier Crane and of Inspecteur Clouseau's hapless gaucherie. Von Igelfeld inhabits the rarefied world of the Institute of Romance Philology at Regensburg, a world he shares with his equally tall and equally ridiculous colleagues, Professors Florianus Prinzel and Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer. Their unlikely adventures are described in three deliciously funny instalments: Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 51 more reviews...
 Laugh-out-loud funny April 8, 2009
Docta Puella (Southwest, USA)
Rarely do books make me laugh out loud but these satiric tales of a German philologist and his misadventures had me rolling on the floor. The fact that I'm an academic trained as a philologist certainly adds to my pleasure, and clearly AMS knows the academic world well enough to create a hilarious sendup of the egotism and bombast stomping through the hallowed halls.
I must admit that almost equally funny are the people who gave these books bad ratings and called Dr. Smith bad names because they thought these were actual grammar guides! ROFLMAO!!!!
 Properly Irregular Readers January 21, 2009
2am reader mom (Pennsylvania)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It takes a fair degree of projection to imagine the types depicted in this book, (unless you happen to be a denizen of one of these abstruse little worlds) but trust that McCall Smith is able to portray the reality and simultaneously satirize it.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but a good choice for the sorts who chuckle over Wodehouse and find deep vindication in 'Eats Shoots and Leaves.'
Not as cosy as #1 Ladies books; more dry, academic wit.
 A Light Collection of Vignettes for Fans Only November 22, 2008
RC Phng Ngyn (Laurel, MD USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
Von Igelfeld is not "Precious", but He's Interesting October 3, 2008
Kirby Shelton (Atlanta, Georgia United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Portugese Irregular Verbs" is the third or fourth series that Alexander McCall Smith has written. The "professor series" as I like to call them is not as immediately engaging as "The Number One Ladies Detective Agency" series, but a true McCall Smith fan will still find them enjoyable. In this series, McCall Smith captures some of the potential for pettiness that exists in all of our lives and we manage to see the Professor trying to handle his own petty temptations as well as the pettiness of others.
 Hey Alex! F--K U! Ya Irregular Dumb f--k author September 5, 2008
joune (miami, fl usa)
0 out of 21 found this review helpful
I really must agree. this book is definitely a piece of sh-t book . what is up with the title? the author is either, A) an idiot who doesnt realize that he is an idiot. B) an idiot who doesnt mind being an idiot! or, C) the author is actually very slick, and knows that he can f--k people over by deceiving readers with irrelevant titles. I am also disgruntled by the title of the book. such a dishonest author. what a waste of time, energy and moeny. the author has no integrity. this is my only logical conclusion because that is the only reason why he would have entitled the book "verbs". hey alexander mc call Smith......F--k U! guys, dont by this book!
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