McCall Smith, Alexander: Unusual Uses for Olive Oil

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TWEETABLE REVIEW: 4* The subject turns from Romance languages to romance in this collection of 5 stories featuring Prof. Dr von Igelfeld. https://www.book-blog.com/2012/11/mccall-smith-alexander-unusual-uses-olive-oil.html

The endearingly oblivious and over-proud Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld is back in this collection of five new stories by Alexander McCall Smith. For those not in the know, von Igelfeld is a professor at the Institute of Romance Philology in Regensburg, and he is the author of that masterwork of philological scholarship, Portuguese Irregular Verbs. The first of the stories in this volume finds von Igelfeld troubled by the recognition being given his nemesis, Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer (whose monograph on the Portuguese imperfect subjunctive is of course far inferior to von Igelfeld's contributions to the field). The other four stories are connected thematically, as they turn from the subject of romance languages to romance. It is a concept with which von Igelfeld is quite unfamiliar. Still, he's unwittingly surrounded by the amorous on a trip to the Alps with students, and even Herr Huber, the tiresome librarian of the Institute, finds someone to appreciate his conversation--which inevitably centers on his aunt's nursing home. Can von Igelfeld himself find love? It's unlikely, but he comes closer in this collection than we might believe possible. Academics in particular should give this series a look.