Your Inner Hedgehog

Portuguese Irregular Verbs #5

by Alexander McCall Smith

Welcome to the insane and rarified world of Professor Dr 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 that has a tendency to go hilariously astray.

This time Professor Dr Dr von Igelfeld will have to take on a dangerous newcomer--Deputy Librarian Dr Hilda Schreiber-Ziegler. Swept in on a wave of progressive enthusiasm, she seems determined to drag the department into the modern age. At first this is a minor nuisance, but when Dr Schreiber-Ziegler attempts to remove twenty-one of the twenty-two copies of Professor Dr Dr von Igelfeld's seminal work, the thousand-page Portuguese Irregular Verbs . . . Well, things have gone a bit too far. As a result, von Igelfeld mounts a campaign for the exalted position of director of the Institute against none other than the upstart Dr Schreiber-Ziegler herself. But the politicking will have to wait; von Igelfeld has been offered a visiting fellowship among the ivory towers of Oxford, where he will have to stave off an MI6 recruitment attempt and the effusive attention of a young American scholar. Still, von Igelfeld has always heeded the clarion call of duty, especially when it comes with a larger office.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Contemporary, Audiobook, Germany, Adult Fiction, Adult

216 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2021

About the author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Reviews

[Phrynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was only saved for me by the author's excellent writing and sense of humour. Somehow I have never been engaged by the books in this series although I love every other series of his that I have read. Pompous professors just do not do it for me I am afraid.

There were parts of Your Inner Hedgehog which were clever and funny but none of the characters themselves appealed to me. I think I will leave them to their philosophical musings in future and just go back to enjoying Mma Ramotswe, Isobel Dalhousie and wee Bertie.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your Inner Hedgehog is the fifth book in the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series by best-selling Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. When the newly-appointed Deputy Librarian at the Institute of Romance Philology (University of Regensburg), Dr. Hilda Schreiber-Ziegler removes from the library shelves (in the interest of creating more space) twenty-one of twenty-two copies of Portuguese Irregular Verbs (1200 pages each), and consigns them to a box in the storage room marked “Surplus to requirements. Probably valueless”, the mild-mannered Librarian, Herr Huber knows he has to act.

This seminal volume, much respected in philology circles, is the work of one of the Institute’s full professors, Professor Dr Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, and such an insult cannot go unchallenged. But, having already been excluded from the Senior Coffee Room, Dr Schreiber-Ziegler is unmoved; she will take it up with the Rector, maintaining she is challenging the outdated patriarchy, questioning assumptions of superiority made on the slenderest of grounds.

When the Rector learns, through this issue, that the Institute has no Director, being instead run on a consensus basis, he insists on one being elected, determined to stamp out elitism. After a momentary threat to accord, Von Igelfeld and his cronies unite against the common enemy: this radical intent on bringing down long-held traditions.

In the interim, von Igelfeld takes up a short Fellowship at Oxford, where he is offered an honorary doctorate (on a quid pro quo basis), attracts the attention of MI6, and meets an American academic who is an avid fan of his book. Dr Andrea Schneeweiss follows him back to Regensburg, but will her presence help his campaign for Directorship?

With his tongue once again firmly in cheek, McCall Smith manages to poke fun at the hallowed halls of academia. He reveals some of the underhand tactics utilised, but keeps his professors honest by providing them with a moral conscience in the form of Herr Huber. As always, there are some truly ridiculous incidents to add to the fun. Charming illustrations by Iain McIntosh adorn this highly entertaining read.

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wonderful story concerning Professor Dr Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld.

I'm not reading these books in the correct order, but it doesn't matter too much as they stand on their own more or less. Talking of standing, Professor Unterholzer's sausage dog is mentioned in this book and is the reason Unterholzer might be prosecuted for operating a vehicle on a pavement.

The main antagonist at the beginning of the book is Dr Hilda Schreiber-Ziegler, the new Deputy Librarian at the Institute of Romance Philology in Regensburg. She takes exception to being barred from the Senior Coffee Room and complains to The Rector of the university, who decides the Institute should have a Director. Two people put their names forward and there's an election.

Before the election, Von Igelfeld goes on a visiting fellowship to Oxford for three weeks and meets two antagonists, a visiting academic from the USA called Dr Schneeweiss and an MI6 agent called B. Dr Scheeweiss returns to Regensburg as she is a big fan of Von Igelfeld and his masterwork Portuguese Irregular Verbs.

Somehow, everyone manages to come out of the story a winner including Dr Schreiber-Ziegler and Dr Scheeweiss. Von Igelfeld also has to admit to himself that in two instances he's been a little greedy in terms of self promotion and decides to revert back to how things were when the book started.

Recommended.

[Rebekah Giese Witherspoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Yes, von Igelfeld. He’s the author of a rather impressive work of scholarship, actually, Portuguese Constipated Verbs.’
‘Irregular Verbs,’ corrected Dr Schneeweiss.
Dr Mottle looked puzzled. ‘Yes, that’s what I said.’

I got lots of giggles and grins from this novel, exactly what I needed. In this “Portuguese Irregular Verbs” series, Alexander McCall Smith’s wonderful gentle humor makes fun of ridiculous pompous snobs of academia, in particular the academics of Germany. It’s great fun!

‘It is very good to be back,’ he said. ‘England is a very strange country.’
‘Indeed, it is,’ said Prinzel. ‘And it is inhabited by very peculiar people: you never know if they mean what they’re saying.’
‘Or if they mean anything at all,’ added Unterholzer.
‘Which explains the irrationalities of the English language.’ Von Igelfeld agreed. ‘The regularity of a nation’s verbs is a measure of the rationality of a culture,’ he pronounced.

If you’re a fan of any of Alexander McCall Smith’s other delightful series (The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, 44 Scotland Street, Isabel Dalhousie, etc.), you might enjoy this one as well.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always enjoy Professor Professor. This book gently lampoons the academic world. Petty squabbles over sizes of offices, windows, number of copies of books held in library, coffee room eligibility, directorship, honorary degrees.

Made me laugh out loud many times, and is the perfect (short) length. Brevity is the soul of wit!

Recommend this and the other books in the series. Liked them all.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many books have I read by Alexander McCall Smith? I try to read all the Isabel Dalhousie and Scotland Street series books; most of the Ladies #1 Detective series. But the one book in this series set in a philogy department in a German university is series I had tried before was disappointing and I really had not meant to try anything else in the series again.

Inner Hedgehog was on my local library's new book display & somehow, looked appealing . . . and yes, the usual Alexander McCall Smith magic fun is in this short novel. Or maybe I just related to the story of librarians trying to discard the extra 21 copies of the seminal work on Portuguese irregular verbs by one of the faculty. Anyway, I am still smiling from this.

[Jennifer Ladd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of his. Feels like he wrote it because it was due tomorrow. Characters were maddening whiners

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, I was disappointed in this book. It was a little too close to home for a former academic-turned-librarian. It’s not funny when it’s rings true. In addition, it just lacked the usual something that keeps me reading everything this amazing author writes. It was a tad boring.

[KJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it time for the Hedgehog field to hibernate? Not much happens in the 200 pages, has this series reached it’s natural conclusion?

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful, absurd and as charming as ever. I found myself constantly smiling whilst reading this.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is booooring! Meant to be humorous but I abandoned it after 1 chapter.

[Natalie Mulmule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Literally the most unserious book ever

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, this one has a radical librarian trying to weed the 21 extra copies of Portuguese Irregular Verbs from the Institute’s library! I know this series might not be for everyone, but I love the humor and I love the dude that reads these audiobooks.

[Julie Wyngaert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this series but I think I’m tired of AMS writing. There’s a distinct lack of plot and a lot of reverie and inner thought. I get bored drift off and find I’ve missed nothing because the characters haven’t engaged, just experienced another stream of consciousness ramble about something that seems irrelevant to the non existent plot. Any plot there was, was hastily wrapped up in the last 2 chapters, or left unresolved,leaving room for yet another book that I can’t see myself bothering to read.

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Von Igelfeld series is not a particularly easy read, but the books do hold an eccentric charm of their own. In this latest novel, the inept professors of the Institute of Romance Philology fuss and fume over new challenges to their highly held positions. There are chuckles to be had as the story unfolds...

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything about this fifth and final (for now) installment of von Igelfeld's saga reminded me of a posh and extremely clean cut episode of The Big Bang Theory! Centering around the drama and hypocrisies of academia, our Professor is once again finding himself in many odd predicaments where he must hold the proverbial moral high ground, while still managing to get exactly what he believes himself to deserve. I did feel a difference in style, probably due to the long hiatus prior to this final release - but overall I enjoyed and can accept it as a wrap up to the series (if it is the end)!

[Barbara Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book (this series). I don’t know that I’d recommend it to others. I find the characters delightfully amusing. They are super quirky and very full of themselves! Their antics in academia are relatable and I find evidence of my colleagues throughout. It was a good read for me!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This turns out to be fifth in a series I had never heard of before. I have read several of his other series but didn't know about this one. I didn't have any problem following the story though. It's a gently funny story of academic politics in a philology department in Germany. 3.5 stars

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book cracked me up and I got a taste of intense higher Ed life

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favorite book of this series to date. Smith is hilarious as he describes the academic life of professors and their interactions with one another! It kept me laughing throughout.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

No complaints about writing style but this just wasn’t for me. I wouldn’t say I hated it but I didn’t think it was very funny which is kind of the point of satire. Read for book club.

[Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great laugh, always enjoy his books. First I've read in this series, will go back and read the others now.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know what it is with this series, but I love it.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing author.

[(Grace) Kentucky Bohemian · Rating 3 out of 5]

,,,And Now for Something Completely Different...

I'm flabbergasted. Almost speechless

Sarcasm is my second language, but this author is a master of the craft. I'm new to the Hedgehog series and had no idea what to expect. Truthfully, it rather defies description. Obviously, this little gem isn't going to be for everyone. But it's very well written, handily narrated considering it was done with tongue in cheek the entire time, and delights in tipping sacred cows.

[Maggie Wied · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third in my least favorite series from McCall Smith, poking fun at academia slyly. I laughed a few times but don't engage wholeheartedly with these books as I do with his others. It was a very quick read.

[Cel Jel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possibly not as good as the previous in this series, but coming back after a break I enjoyed the romp. Oh Professor von Ziegfeld you are so blind in many ways, but the nativity makes it interesting.

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up off the library shelf on a whim, not really knowing anything about the author and not realizing it is part of a series. It was a quick read and easy enough to follow as a stand-alone book although sometimes I wondered if jokes were going over my head having not read the first four books of the series. There wasn’t much of a plot line to this book. I could see the humor and irony throughout but it wasn’t the laugh-out-loud story that I was in the mood for. I will definitely try again with this author… perhaps starting with the first book in one of his series.

[Carol Jones-Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the latest entertaining and hilarous Professor Dr. Dr. Moritz Maria Von Igelfeld novel, our hopelessly out-of-touch hero is forced to confront uppity librarians, the rector of the university and a hopelessly out of touch hero. Welcome to the insane and rarified world of Professor Dr 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 that has a tendency to go hilariously astray.

This time Professor Dr Dr von Igelfeld will have to take on a dangerous newcomer—Deputy Librarian Dr Hilda Schreiber-Ziegler. Swept in on a wave of progressive enthusiasm, she seems determined to drag the department into the modern age. At first this is a minor nuisance, but when Dr Schreiber-Ziegler attempts to remove twenty-one of the twenty-two copies of Professor Dr Dr von Igelfeld’s seminal work, the thousand-page Portuguese Irregular Verbs (sounds completely deadly to me) . . . Well, things have gone a bit too far. As a result, von Igelfeld mounts a campaign for the exalted position of director of the Institute against none other than the upstart Dr Schreiber-Ziegler herself. But the politicking will have to wait; von Igelfeld has been offered a fellowship visiting among the ivory towers of Oxford, where he will have to stave off an MI6 recruitment attempt and the effusive attention of a young American scholar. Still, von Igelfeld has always heeded the clarion call of duty, especially when it comes with a larger office.

No one pricks pomposity and self-importance as hilarously as Alexander McCall Smith....he captures absurdities with a gentle lampooning that we laugh at while perhaps also recognising such tendencies in ourselves... Your Inner Hedgehog might be just the antidote we need to the constant real world cacophony of hyperbolic argument and mud-slinging that seems to surround every debate on every issue.

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth book of Alexander McCall Smith’s “Portuguese Irregular Verbs” series, but it is the first I’ve read from the series.

The Institute of Romance Philology at the University of Regensburg in Germany, is the locale of this tale. A very distinguished site of learning where Professor Dr Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfled, Professor Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer and Professor Dr Dr Florianus Prinzel are the three Chairs of the department. They have their strict protocol of how everything is done. There is also Herr Huber, the Librarian. He is not of the same level, but is given some leeway.

When Dr. Hilda Schreiber-Ziegler is brought in to assist Herr Huber in the library and is given the title of Deputy Librarian, she feels she has some authority and takes it upon herself to implement some streamlining of procedures and some money saving changes. When she takes it upon herself to eliminate excess duplicates of the book inventory, she oversteps by removing twenty-one of the twenty-two copies of Professor Dr Dr von Igelfeld’s twelve hundred page “Portuguese Irregular Verbs.”

This action causes Igelfeld and Scheiber-Ziegler to square off in a campaign for the position of Director of the Institute; a position that has been vacant for a while. The lines are drawn.

McCall Smith’s quirky characters and the situations they find themselves in makes for an entertaining read. Along with the main plot at the University, there are the private stories of each character. Herr Huber’s invalid aunt and his detailed explanations of her health. Professor Dr. Unterholzer and is dachshund with one leg and wheels to allow the dog mobility — this is due to an incident involving Professor Dr Dr Igelfeld. Professor Dr Dr Igelfeld’s desire for a higher position in the world of academia, and a larger office with a view.