Portuguese irregular verbs - Alexander McCall Smith

Welcome to the insane
and rarified world of Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute of
Romance Philology.
Von Igelfeld is engaged in 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 Portuguese Irregular Verbs, Professor Dr von Igelfeld learns to play tennis,
and forces a college chum to enter into a duel that results in a nipped nose. He
also takes a field trip to Ireland where he becomes acquainted with the rich world
of archaic Irishisms, and he develops an aching infatuation with a Dentist fatale.
Along the way, he takes two ill-fated Italian sojourns, the first merely uncomfortable,
the second definitely dangerous.