The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs

This is a light spoof of European academic life. It reads quickly and portrays many aspects of interpersonal and political situations occurring in academe. Amusing and pleasant read. Characters are well-drawn and quite archtypical ; if you have been in the environment, you've met them all.

I did not enjoy this book, but keep reading thinking surely it would get better. I did not enjoy any of the characters or feel sympathetic or feel connected to them even though I tried. Would not recommend.

I love these books about the Professor. I listen to them in my car over and over. The finer points of sausage doge is also very good about the same professor. I would recommend these books on CD for any long car trip. They will keep you laughing.

After being charmed by the Ladies #1 Detective Agency series, I eagerly purchased this book for an airplane flight to an academic conference. I found it tedious, irrelevant, unfunny, peopled by tiresome characters not worth the time worrying about--in short, when I finished it, I left it on the airplane. Maybe I just didn't understand the humor. Oh sure, I could get some of the wink-wink, nudge-nudge bits (since I work at a University and know of profs who present the same paper at conference after conference or who think that arcane subjects are so important)--but it just didn't work for me.

British humor is wonderful. This book is not. What a total wast of time. It never went anywhere. I read the entire thing hoping I was just missing something that was taking its sweet time to appear. I was sorely disappointed.

Gave it a one star because there is no way to give negative stars.

If you like British humor, this is not a place to find a good example of it.

I have been looking for awhile for a humorous set of books. I've already read all of the 44 Scotland Street series by this author. It is excellent. I like this very much too. It is impossible to compare the two as one is about a groups of Scots who live near one another in Edinborough and their adventures. This is about a German stuffed shirt professor (in Germany) who is in a subject which virtually no one has heard of, much less read. The latter is important because he is the author of the 2,000+ page tome "Portuguese Irregular Verbs." A grand total of 200 books have ever been sold. In his department and at worldwide academic conferences though, this puts him at the top of the food chain. It is a miracle this department even exists.

Whatever situation he gets into, it is bound to turn into a mess. But fortunately a hilarious mess. I am now working on Book 4 out of 4 in this series. I like them all equally. I frequently find myself laughing out loud with these stories. I have tried Smith's other books series but so far none of those others have interested me. There are frequent scenes set inside his university department and those are some of the best scenes in the books. Everyone in the department is loaded with degrees but in this absolutely useless subject, which they are convinced is of paramount academic importance.

A collection of stories about the misadventures of Prof. Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, the unparalleled author of Portuguese Irregular Verbs and world-renowned philologist. And his two friends, Prof. Dr. Unterholzer and Prof. Dr. Dr. Prinzel, also in the philology field. Together the three of them tackle the mysteries of sports, venture out of their cozy Germany to foreign domains and happily manage to survive, ponder love, and of course, pledge deepest friendship while dealing with their own professional jealousies and insecurities.

If P.G. Wodehouse's Bertram Wooster and his friends had been philology professors, you'd get a book something like this. While they can parse verbs and argue grammar with the best of the world, street smarts and common sense aren't necessarily their forte. The kind of scrapes they manage to get themselves into and out of are more of the eye-roll-enducing kind of humor rather than the laugh out loud kind. I was debating between 3 and 4 stars and decided it was a 3.5 so I'll round it up to four. It was entertaining, and I'd be willing to read more of Prof. Dr. von Igelfeld's adventures, but I won't be rushing to the bookstore to clean them out of the rest of the series asap.

No content issues.

This is a book some people will absolutely love and some will find baffling or just plain ridiculous. I'm firmly in the former camp and I love it. If you are expecting a book along the lines of the No 1 Female Detective Agency you might be disappointed.

This is the second time I've bought this book and this copy is for a friend who is recuperating after surgery I think my earlier review is buried somewhere deep in the store.co.uk reviews. I will leave my friend to review it this time but I already know she has laughed so much she has almost popped her stitches.

I have to echo the statement by another reviewer here that this book, and the other two in the series, are not for everyone. I say this because it would seem that the major objection to this work is that it is not another addition to The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (a wonderful series), nor another addition to the 44 Scotland Street series (another gathering of great reads). No, here the author has offered up something quite different in the person of Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Egelefeld, the author of the much acclaimed "Portuguese Irregular Verbs," and his nemesis, Dr. Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer another professor of lesser ability in the field of German philology.

Through a grave error, Professor goes to American (Arkansas) to deliver a lecture and finds that he is go address a group of experts and dog breeders at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, not in his field of Romantic languages, but rather on "sausage dogs." And so the Doctors troubles begin....

To appreciate this work you MUST have an appreciation for understated and very, very dry humor. This work takes to into the rarified world of German academe. The brilliant but stumbling, bumbling, egotistical professor encounters one disaster after another, all of his own making, throughout this short work. At first glance the situations the good doctor puts himself in may sound rather ridiculous but for anyone who is familiar with the workings of higher education will instantly be able to relate and indeed, remember situations which parallel the ones here almost perfectly.

The author takes us into a world of pomposity and ego driven characters, many of who spend hours fussing over slight nuances is the wording of professional papers, perceived social insults, and manic competition over matters that the rest of the world; the world of normal people, could care less about.

This is not a slap your knee hoot and laugh out loud book, but it is one that will bring a constant smile to your face, a shaking of your head and more than one snicker to your lips.

The author's sense of humor is that of a very eccentric Englishman, something I have a feeling is indeed probably is or he could not have thought of some of the things be placed on these pages. You have to have just a bit of a quirky outlook on life to truly appreciate what the author has done here.

This is a short book and a rather quick read. The author has written two other short novels in this series and each of them are absolute gems. They include: Portuguese Irregular Verbs: A Professor Dr von Igelfeld Entertainment Novel (1) and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances and do not have to be read in order to appreciate.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Opportunities Missed:

While I wanted to enjoy this book, I found it to be bland. I'm a big Wodehouse fan, and enjoy droll British humor, but this book is like a failed rocket launch: starts out with promise, but never gets off the launch pad. On the one hand, the style and quality are great, but the stories seem underdeveloped, as if the writer were merely phoning it in. In fact, the writer appears to be holding back, but why, I cannot imagine. In several instances (in this book and the others), the good professor starts to get into the comic spirit of things, but then a deadly calm takes over, and I am left wanting more- much more.

It makes me wonder why these stories go on for page after page, as if to build to a climax, yet in the end there isn't much to resolve.

I will continue to study the writing style in these stories from time to time, but for true fun, I will return to the Wodehouse ouvre.

The unlikely adventures of Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld continue in this collection of five stories by Alexander McCall Smith. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs finds our hero--the renowned author of that philological masterwork Portuguese Irregular Verbs--lecturing on the subject of veterinary medicine at the University of Arkansas ("The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs"), evading man-hungry widows on board a cruise ship ("The Perfect Imperfect"), and hobnobbing with Vatican bigwigs while vacationing in Italy ("The Bones of Father Christmas"). His relationship with his nemesis, Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer (the author of a study on the Portuguese imperfect subjunctive, which is not, however, as fine a piece of scholarship as Igelfeld's own monograph), deepens in the course of these stories, despite Igelfeld's unwonted involvement with sausage dogs and as a direct result of the aforementioned widows.

The situations into which von Igelfeld stumbles in his life can be inherently amusing: McCall Smith's account of Igelfeld's initial encounter with the Pope in the Vatican Library and the fallout from that meeting are well worth the read. But what makes the series so successful is the character of von Igelfeld. He is both oblivious to the perceptions of those around him and imperturbably convinced of his own self worth. His ego and his personal and academic jealousies inform his actions to a great degree. But at the same time there is a redeeming decency to Igelfeld, a sentimentality, that makes him likeable despite his many character flaws.

McCall Smith's von Igelfeld series makes for a good, quietly comic read. Academics in particular will enjoy the author's wry mockery of their world--in which, as Kissinger's famous quip has it, the battles are vicious and the stakes so very small.

Debra Hamel -- author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in ancient Greece (Yale University Press, 2003)

A perfectly silly collection of anecdotes about a schlemiel of a philology professor and his friends, rivals, and colleagues. In a typical story, he loudly disclaims his neighbor in the vatican libraries for making too much noise, only to discover he has berated the Pope. He is thrown briefly into crisis, resolves to apologize, and is soon seated for tea with he lonely pontiff. Nothing much goes wrong in these stories. They're absurd, entertaining, and short.

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs picks up where Portuguese Irregular Verbs leaves off. The books are not so much self-contained stories as they are collections of stories. Hilarious stories about our protagonist, the Romance philologist Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, his colleagues, and their adventures in the arcane world of Romance philology.

Dr von Igelfeld finagles a visit to the US as a guest lecturer, as always, in search of the recognition he so ardently desires. Unfortunately, the exchange program he worked with got him mixed up with a Dr Igelfold, who is in quite a different field of study. Von Igelfeld bluffs his way through his lecture, but is then forced to operate on a sausage dog, with pretty gruesome results. The dog becomes a main player in another story, this one of shadow and intrigue in the Coptic Church under the watchful "ten thousand eyes" of Rome.

And so it goes as we follow Dr von Igelfeld around the globe on misadventure after misadventure, as he tries to handle each sticky situation with Teutonic aplomb.

I laughed out loud, and I wasn't even feeling like laughing when I picked the book up. Like the other books in this series (At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances is the third), "Sausage Dogs" is very short and light to read. Make sure you read all three!

Goodness...! This series has certainly drawn a disparate set of reviews. It's certainly true that the von Igelfeld series (Portuguese Irregular Verbs) is very different to the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, which is much more warm-hearted with likeable characters - but don't let that dismay you.

To decide whether this is a title you'll enjoy, think about these things:

1. Do you enjoy characters that are very subtly drawn, who are pompous, self-important, highly intellectual, somewhat impractical, with a virtually impregnable sense of self-esteem?

2. Do you enjoy characters who are not always charming and nice, and at whom the author pokes a bit of fun?

3. Do you enjoy a subtle sort of humour which isn't aiming for rich chuckles but quiet smiles at the absurdities of those who dwell in a ludicrous environment of their own making?

4. Do you find deliciously amusing the accoutrements of an exclusively academic life?

If you answer "yes" to the above, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy the "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" series. I certainly did. It reminded me VERY much of Grossmith's "Diary of a Nobody". That has the same half-affectionate mockery where the absurd becomes the hook upon which the reader hangs his hat.

If, on the other hand, you want uproarious laughter in the style of a stand-up comedian, you will probably miss the point in this series. The series really has nothing in the style of Monty Python... It's certainly not Blackadder, although I can see, in a way, why the comparison might be drawn (the wit is in the words).

I have read the series, and listened to the audiobooks (but I'm not sure this particular edition has the same reader to whom I listened. I heard the superb Hugh Laurie, who could read the fine print on a legal contract and make it sound interesting. What he does with this delicious stuff is extraordinarily amusing in its subtle way).

You'll need to make up your own mind - clearly there are many differing opinions on this series. If you do decide to listen to these... enjoy!

In "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs," Alexander McCall Smith has written a wry and worthy sequel to "Portuguese Irregular Verbs." The humor here is extremely dry, but the results are absolutely delicious.

In this installment Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, noted romance philologist and famed author of "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" undertakes many new endeavors and travels. He causes mayhem on farms in Arkansas, where he is inadvertently confused with the author of "Further Studies of Canine Pulmonary Efficiency," Professor Martin Igelfold of the University of Munster. Before his saga is at an end he ends up practicing veterinary medicine without a license, an ill-fated venture that ultimately costs Dr. Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer's dachshund three legs, which are conveniently replaced by wheels. By the end of the book, Walter the sausage dog becomes sanctified by the Coptic church after a misadventure with extreme Christmas implications.

Von Igelfeld also undergoes psychotherapy, which is characteristically unproductive, and lectures to elderly vacationers on a cruise ship on such captivating subjects as "Portuguese, a Deviant Spanish?," and "The Perfect Imperfect." He even manages to insult the Pope in the Vatican library, which leads to a fracas of Papal proportions.

Wherever he goes, peculiar mayhem results with hilarious and frequently unpredictable consequences. The entire book is delightful, although I felt occasionally that the chapter "The Bones of Father Christmas" was a bit on the lengthy side. While I preferred "Portuguese Irregular Verbs," I highly recommend this book.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs in my opinion is one of the best Alexander McCall Smith books written. He gets a lot more credit for the Ladies Detective Series (as well as his other very fine series) but this book which is the first in a series of 3 novellas is absolutely stunning. It is brief--one might call it a novella and it is also about a central character Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld who is a doctor of letters at the Institute of Romance Philology. I literally sat there reading and had tears in my eyes so many times. The dialogue is just beautiful and hilarious at once. The good professor challenges a friend of his to a duel with swords and ends up injuring him and cutting off part of his nose. He meets up with a dentist, takesa boat to Italy, and in general becomes someone who appears in places looking like the awkward uncle who is always in the wrong place. This is a very enjoyable book and I only wish that McCall Smith would have written even more volumes than the three he wrote.

People seem to be reacting very differently to this book, and I suppose it's with good reason. I understand that Mr. Smith has written another series of books called the Ladies Number One Detective Agency which, I gather, is very different from this one.

This book is probably not for fans of that that series. This book (and its two successors) are for people who enjoy very dry humor. If you don't, don't waste your time. If you do, this is one of my favorites. This is one of just a few books that has made me laugh so hard that I've had to put down the book and stop to catch my breath.

This book was given to me when I was in the hospital for a short while, and I confess that under other circumstances I would likely never have given it a chance. Clearly I'm very glad I did and suggest that you do as well.

Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Ingelfeld is a respected member of the faculty of a German University, the author of PORTUGUESE IRREGULAR VERBS, a seminal work in the field of philology. We learn about Dr Ingelfeld, his collegues, Drs. Prinzel and Unterholzer in a series of short chapters. There is not a very strong overall story arc to this book, it is more like a group of related short stories that were just grouped together to make a book, a very short book (128 pages). For those who are fans of McCall Smith's other series, (NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY, CORDUROY MANSIONS, SUNDAY PHILOSOPHY CLUB etc) it would be good to remember that this is an earlier work and does lack the polish, and some of the charm of this later series.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs introduces us to Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, his colleagues, and the wonderful world of Romance philology. This book is a collection of stories that have little to do with one another besides the fact that they're all light-hearted fun.

Dr von Igelfeld is always searching for the recognition he believes he deserves for writing the Very Important Work, Portuguese Irregular Verbs, which weighs in at some 1200 pages. Along the way, he and his colleagues believe they can learn tennis by reading a book on it; he sets up a colleague in a fencing duel; he suffers great indignity at the hands of a less-deserving colleague; and he discovers why the Venetians keep making strange and mysterious references to the water.

Maybe none of this sounds funny on the surface, but it is, mainly because of the inner dialogue of the fussy academic. It made me laugh out loud, and I wasn't even in a particularly jolly mood when I read this book.

It's a short book that can be knocked out in a long evening, which will give you plenty of time to read the other Professor Dr von Igelfeld Entertainments: "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" and "At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances." I recommend you read all three, in that order.

Thank you to our good friends, the Distinguished Professor and Mrs. P. for the most entertaining gift! Last night I laughed out loud in bed for several minutes--which should be recommended to everyone, especially if in northern latitudes' winters. And I was just finishing the first chapter.
The book is a delight for the academic as it makes fun of the absurdities of the profession. As the wife of another professor and having heard much of the goings-on of academia intricacies, to me the reading of this series is like an hyper-reality experience.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs (2003) is the first in a new humor series. Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld is a professional philologist, author of the 1200 page volume of the title, but having high interest in most languages. His closest friends/colleagues are also philologists and very German. This book contains eight tales of their social bumbles.

In this novel, we learn of Igelfeld's attempt to play tennis with Professor Dr Dr (hc) Florianus Prinzel while Professor Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer functions as umpire. None had played the game before, but they are provided with an (out of date) book by the management. They play by the rules in the book, but the server loses every game and no one gains the necessary two game lead to win. Did I explain that this trio is German?

After eventual exhaustion, they go for a swim. None had swum before. A good time is had by all of the onlookers, but not by Igelfeld and friends.

As a student at Heidelberg, Igelfeld admires Prinzel and brags of his athletic prowess. In fact, Prinzel has no athletic skills whatsoever. Then Igelfeld gets Prinzel into a duel with a scarfaced student.

After obtaining his doctorate, Igelfeld finds a posting as assistant to Professor Dr Vogelsang in Munich. Although Vogelsang has some flaws -- notably the publishing of Igelfeld's work under Vogelsang's name -- Igelfeld does enjoy the thought of fieldwork in Ireland. However, their trip only results in a compendium of Gaelic curse words. Then Igelfeld loses his boarding when his landlady finds the papers in his room.

Moving on to a second assistantship with Professor Walter Schoeffer-Henscel at Wiesbaden, Igelfeld serves long and faithfully and eventually receives a chair in the Institute with Prinzel and Unterholzer. Attending a philology conference in Siena, Igelfeld leaves early to visit Montalcino. There he encounters a xenophobic innkeeper.

On a visit to Goa for a philological conference, Igelfeld finds that the governor of the local prison is a murderer as well as a highly respected member of the community. He also encounters a Holy man, who makes certain prophecies about his life. Igelfeld decides to return to the institute post haste.

Later he makes an effort to expand the market for his large tome -- Portuguese Irregular Verbs -- and visits Unterholzer to determine whether his colleague has a copy of the work. Encountering certain evidence of social aggrandisement, Igelfeld criticizes Unterholter's taste in decoration only after determining that his colleague does not have a copy in the study. But he reverses this attitude immediately after he discovers *two* copies within a bookcase in the hallway.

Then Igelfeld falls in love with his dentist, but fails to act upon this feeling with precipitous haste. He considers his duty as a von Igelfeld and the social implications thereof. Meanwhile, she marries another.

Of course, there is the great concern for what name to use with other people. During his fieldwork in Ireland, Dr. Patrick Fitzcarron O'Leary, his host, calls him "Maria" and later "von", which thoroughly confuses Igelfeld. Later O'Leary calls a barman Paddy, so Igelfeld knows how to reply when asked what he will have. But the men at the bar call O'Leary various nicknames -- i.e., Fritz, Pat and O -- and Igelfeld decides that the Irish are beyond his comprehension.

In this novel, Igelfeld seems to have *all* the alleged flaws of the German upper caste. Of course, he is really Austrian, but what difference does that make? He is determined to act as a proper Prussian gentleman.

Highly recommended for fans of McCall Smith and for anyone else who enjoys tales of proper Prussian gentlemen and the social traps they encounter.

-Bill Jordin

This book was very odd, but somehow amusing. It is a series of loosely connected stories about Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, a world-class philologist. Dr. von Igelfeld's overinflated sense of scholarly importance is combined with an extreme lack of self-confidence in some social situations, a complete lack of self-awareness in others, and German embarrassment over emotions to make a ridiculous yet charming character.

There does not seem to really be any point to any of the stories or the book as a whole, but it was still a very fun read. (Having studied other languages in some detail also makes the book more entertaining as you can half-follow some of the technical jargon the philologists throw around)

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs by Alexander McCall Smith is part of a trilogy of books about von Inglefeld, the obscure professor of philology (study of word origins) and author of the ultimate work, Portugese Irregular Verbs. (This also happens to be the title of another of the books in the series.) While the latter is an amusing book, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs had me laughing out loud so often and so long that my stomach muscles actually began to hurt! It is a series of short tales, so I really can't even give you a taste of what is in store for you wihtout giving the fun away. I'm currently working on the last book of the series, At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances, and finding it nearly as funny. You don't need to read these stories in order but they are all fun and very short (about 120 pages) so go ahead. DO NOT read these books if you love Precious and the #1 Ladies Detective Agancy and are looking for more of the same. They are completely different.

In this installment in the life of self-absorbed and unworld-wise philologist von Igelfeld, he is first mistaken for a German veterinarian, Dr Martin Igelfold, on a visit to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he is to give a speech (The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs). Later, this error in identification, which von Igelfeld does not correct, results in disaster (A Leg to Stand on). Next, von Igelfeld becomes quite distressed when his colleague, Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer, writes an unfavorable critique about von Igelfeld's precious book, Portuguese Irregular Verbs. He goes to extremes (how surprising) to undermine his critic and, as usual, makes matters worse for a time (On the Couch). Then there's the trip to Italy for the month of August with friends Professor Dr Dr Florianus Prinzel and his wife, Ophelia. During his travels, he meets some interesting characters and takes on a monumental responsibility which, of course, he handles badly (The Bones of Father Christmas). Finally, he decides to go on a lecture cruise, not because he likes them or is honored to have been invited to lecture (actually, he hates cruises), but because both Unterholzer and Prinzel declare how delighted each would be to take his place. What transpires is true von Igelfeld! (The Perfect Imperfect)

If you expect the von Igelfeld series to be the same as The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, you are in error. They are very different, but McCall Smith's sense of humor and masterful writing will keep you very well entertained!

Carolyn Rowe Hill

In his never ending quest to maintain his rightful position as the foremost scholar in the Philology Department Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld has been forced to seek an invitation to speak at an American University. It was not going nearly as badly as he had feared, at least it hadn't until he discovered that his hosts were under the impression that he was the other Professor von Ingelfeld, the one who was a veterinarian, an expert on dachshunds, a breed of dogs that this Dr. von Igelfeld, found particularly annoying. It is also a breed that will continue to plague the good professor throughout this volume.

Fans of McCall Smith's other series (44 SCOTLAND STREET, NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY etc) will possibly be disappointed in this one. This is an earlier body of work and lacks the overall story arc that even his more episodic series (44 SCOTLAND STREET, CORDUROY STREET) show but are rather more like a group of short stories featuring the same main character.

This series, at least in this reader's opinion, is not up to the same level as McCall Smith's other works. I felt that the main character lacks the charm characters, no matter how otherwise flawed, from his other series display. Most of the other characters McCall Smith writes about are people that I would like to know, some more than others but none that I would actively avoid. Dr. Igelfeld though does not show much in the way of redeeming traits. I particularly found his callous treatment of an innocent animal to be totally reprehensible. Yes, I realize that this is a work of fiction but I do not find anything amusing about mutilating an animal in order to avoid embarrassment. I am glad that this is not the first McCall Smith series I have read because if it had been I would have missed his other, much, much better series.

Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, the renowned philologist from "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" is back in another series of short, humorous stories. These stories are more closely related than those in "Portuguese Irregular Verbs," and focus more on his relationship with his two immediate colleagues (especially the much-despised Dr. Unterholzer).

Once again, I found Dr. von Igelfeld's combination of ridiculous academic arrogance and social awkwardness hilarious. The fact that the stories in this book built on each other more than in the last book made me like it even more than the first one in the series.

Under 'Book Description' on this book's the store site, reference is made to the "rarified world" of Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld the great philologist (one who studies literary texts to determine their original form and meaning; an older word for 'linguistics'. Can one imagine anything more tedious? or bo-o-r-r-ing?). Rarified, indeed, it is...almost out of the stratosphere. Our dear doctor lives so completely in his head that he misses the point of almost all that goes on around him in the world of the mundane. He is also extraordinarily socially inept. In one instance, he is so concerned that he do things "properly" in approaching the lady he would like to make his wife that in the five weeks he waits to make his initial approach, a friend, on a little faster track, has pursued the lady and asked her to marry him. She has accepted.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs is comprised of eight short stories about events in the lives of three philologists who are friends. Dr von Igelfeld is the primary character. His friends are fellow philologists, Professor Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer and Professor Dr Dr Florianus Prinzel. Germans all.

The stories of Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld are nothing like those of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The humor is very dry and, for some, will be non-existent, or close to it. I think one needs to have lived a while and known a fair number of people to really appreciate this book. I believe that as a result of having read this first book in the series, I better understand a couple people I actually know, and have known for years! I also think I'll delay that trip to Venice I was thinking of taking.

It is a tribute to Mr. Smith's ability to write that he can take such stuffy, one-dimensional people and show them in a humorous light. He is simply terrifico!!

Carolyn Rowe Hill

I enjoyed this book on CD while traveling across the cornfields of the Midwest and it was so fabulous that at one point, I had to pull over to the side of the road because I was laughing so hard! The narrator has the most perfect voice: indignant, pompous and droll--as befitting a single, tall, fussy German professor who wrote the "classic" Portuguese Irregular Verbs. The storyline features vignettes highlighting his insecurities over whether a colleague actually OWNS his book to his feud with an Italian bed and breakfast owner who is convinced that Germans are eating more than their fair share of the world's food supply. I loved it and couldn't wait to listen to the next books in the series.

This book is absolutely ridiculous, and it's dangerous to read. I tried reading it aloud to my dad, who was trying to recover from a stroke, and was warned of what happened to other heart patients. The tale has a timeless quality of vintage idiocy. The license McCall Smith takes in ridiculing other people's cultural and professional quirks goes way beyond any genial ribbing allowed in the Prairie Home Companion. This is a casual wickedness that annihilates the separation between mutually ludicrous souls.

This book was my introduction to the wry, dry humour of Alexander McCall Smith. Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute of Romance Philology is perhaps an acquired taste. Some readers will appreciate the humour, others will not enjoy it and some will not recognise it for humour at all.

Of the three books in this trilogy, I enjoyed this one the best. For me, this was 'laugh out loud' humour and I expect those around me were grateful when I resumed more serious lunchtime reading.

A recommended light-hearted read.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Portugese Irregular Verbs, as you may have guessed from the title, is about a very superficially self-satisfied college professor, with a VERY limited field of study. He and his colleges bore each other to tears at their exclusive conferences. Our protagonist is delightfully stuffy and he finds himself in a number of amusing corners. This is a smile to yourself book, not a laugh out loud book. If you have ever known a college professor, you must read it. Don't, however, read it if you love Precious from the #1 Ladies Detective Agency and you are looking for a similar character. You will be greatly disappointed. This book actually pleased me because it demonstrated the great flexablilty of Alexander McCall Smith and his ability to write more than one character with skill. It's very short- it will only take and hour or so.

If Alexander McCall Smith had stopped with Mma Romotswe's series, he would have gone far to prove he's a great writer with insight into human nature and a fabulous sense of humor.

This series, however, shows just how great the depth and diversity of his writing is.

These books are absolutely hilarious. While most of the characters are caricatures, the situations, the humor, and the obvious intelligence that went into writing this series just comes shining through.

A lot of dry humor, but you will find yourself chuckling out loud.

I've read Alexander Mccall Smith's other books and liked them very much. I enjoyed the characters and situations, but I think I also just like the way he writes. I don't know what it is, but I find his writing style sort of soothing. This series is very different from the other two he's written, but I found it just as enjoyable. If you liked the other series I'd say it's worth your while to look at these books too. They have such a fun subtle humor to them. I laughed quite a bit reading them.

If Alexander McCall Smith had stopped with Mma Romotswe's series, he would have gone far to prove he's a great writer with insight into human nature and a fabulous sense of humor.

This series, however, shows just how great the depth and diversity of his writing is.

These books are absolutely hilarious. While most of the characters are caricatures, the situations, the humor, and the obvious intelligence that went into writing this series just comes shining through.

A lot of dry humor, but you will find yourself chuckling out loud.

I've read Alexander Mccall Smith's other books and liked them very much. I enjoyed the characters and situations, but I think I also just like the way he writes. I don't know what it is, but I find his writing style sort of soothing. This series is very different from the other two he's written, but I found it just as enjoyable. If you liked the other series I'd say it's worth your while to look at these books too. They have such a fun subtle humor to them. I laughed quite a bit reading them.

Listened to the recorded version of FPSD on the daily commute. Enjoyed it much. The first third or so of FPSD is very funny. Laugh out loud funny. Chuckle under your breath funny. Not side-splitting funny, but very amusing. The remainder was not as clever (hence 4 stars, not 5), but eminently entertaining nonetheless. FPSD is a very quick, very light read -- even when read by someone else. Oh, and major kudos to the recorded book reader, whose accents and intonations were hysterical. Much fun!

Being an academic type of person myself, (I have a Master's Degree) I found Alexander McCall Smith's book "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" a delightful read. The humor is dry, and off beat, absurd, but I enjoyed it.The main character is a University Professor who is a bit eccentric. His great accomplishment in life was his book "Portugese Irregular Verbs". He is constantly trying to find recognition but ends up in the most absurd situations.

The story line kind of wanders, it's almost like three short stories rather than one longer one, but the book held my interest and I am definitely interested in reading more of this author's work. -- Valerie Lull, Author, Ten Healthy Teas

If you've read the reviews for the printed edition, you have some idea what this book is about. What they don't mention is that the humor is so dry that many (of us Americans, at least) may not laugh too often. It makes Bill Nighy seem like Rip Taylor.

That's why I really think the audio book is so great. The reader catches the accents of the characters perfectly, and while his wry tone does not soften the dryness of the humor, it does help to make it come alive.

McCall Smith's brief trilogy starting with Portuguese Irregular Verbs makes me think of a remarable irony in its Wodehouse-like look (albeit not so complex) at a societal stratum--here the university professional intellectual class--not of American or English life but of German. Not so sharp--how could it be?--as Fawlty's engagement, but nevertheless catching nicely a British view of the German way of being. As I was reading through these three slender volumes--add The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances--I sort of wondered when and where this all was taking place as it seems, in a Wodehousian way, divorced from actuality while creating a tangible time and place of its own (till Villa, when in the manner of the American reference to the Civil War as "the late unpleasantness" a character remarks on a Polish aristocratic family "dispossessed--first by our own authorities when they invaded--and that was most unfortunate and regrettable ..."). Nevertheless, these little books are trippingly told small stories, fun to read, worth the few hours they might take. I think they would make quite enjoyable little Masterpiece Theatre (RIP) comedies, perhaps with Mr. Cleese as von Igelfeld.

Professor von Igelfeld stumbles upon a series of short adventures, mostly dealing (oddly) with a dachshound. Of particular fun was the canine surgery. It was a hoot. Throughout the stories, his intellectually inferior colleague Unterholzer receives praise that Igelfeld thinks is due to him. The final episode involves Igelfeld chasing off a swarm of middle aged widows who discover he is the only single man available on a Meditarrean cruise ship.

I like the simplicity, the kindness, the gentleness, the light humor, and the respect the author pays to each character in this story. Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective series, is not to everyone's liking. A friend, who I loaned one of the No. 1 series books, was irritated with the books. "Nothing happens," she complained. I know that is true. But somehow it suits me.

I fear I would enjoy reading Alexander McCall Smith's grocery list! He presents all his novels in ways I could never dream of writing. There were several passages where I laughed out loud. Humor is my weakness and he always provides it.

This is a brilliant book - and for more than just academics! Have you ever tried to bluff your way through something and been caught out? This is THE book to read... While a fleeting knowledge of the weird behaviour of German academics will help, anyone who appreciates humour and the wry side of life will LOVE this book. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHURCHILL'S FOLLY: HOW WINSTON CHURCHILL CREATED IRAQ (Carroll and Graf, 2004)

I wish I could give a negative star. Amputating healthy legs on a dachshund is not my idea of funny! I think the author has lost his mind. I liked his Ladies Detective stories but this one was ghastly. PETA should have a book burning starting with this misguided unfunny mess! I have had "Sausage dogs" and his idea of fun with cruelty just doesn't work for me.

Hmmm... Well, four people before me seem to think this is the best they've ever read. Personally, I was lukewarm about it. Mr Smith is clearly a writer of great talent, and in Portuguese Irregular Verbs, we see what he is capable of when he's not even trying. The plot is episodic and loosely woven, and the comedy is tepid at best. I'll allow that the situations might have struck me as being funnier if I were already primed with the strong English antipathy for Germans, but honestly, I don't think that's the answer. One of the earlier reviewers points out a couple of the difficulties the protagonist gets into, like a professor taking credit for the protagonist's work. And yes, that's in there. But just because you insert a potentially funny situation into a book means nothing unless you do something with it. Here, nothing especially interesting results--nothing funny, nothing deeply insightful, nothing shocking, nothing sad--and we are repeatedly reminded that the protagonist does well for himself in spite of this, because that was all in an unscheduled flashback, anyhow. The narrative slips forward and backward in time, without any over-arching direction or point. But that doesn't matter, because there really isn't one here. This is nothing more than a gentle ride through a gentle countryside, full of gentle observations, gentle frictions, gentle wording, and most of all, no fast turns and no bumps to spoil the passengers' ever-so-gentle nap. But funny? The word you're looking for, I think, is "droll." Quaintly amusing, and no better.

After having read Portuguese Irregular Verbs, I can't say that I was overly enamored of the characters or the plot line. However, I immediately went and ordered The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs. The best part about these books is that they are amusing and intelligent. The worst part is there's not a strong story line that runs through them, the books seem more like three or four short stories than one (albeit quite short) book. Definitely worth a read, and wonderful for a short plane flight or any time that you want a quick read that is more fun and more interesting than any magazine!