Portuguese Irregular Verbs is weird. It’s short (and so on the ‘short’ list), and is also a collection of short stories (sort of). A collection of short stories featuring the same character – a professor von Inglesomething. I liked the collection because it followed one character, and I found the character charming.
Professor von Ingelwhatever studies Portuguese irregular verbs. Not surpising the book offers something of a critique of the overly specialized work of academics and the way that academic life sustains itself with irrelevant, introspective conferences and books wherein everyone reads on another (or probably don’t) in order to be seen reading one another and asking questions about one another when really everyone is only concerned (at all) with their own prestige and self-importance. Inhale. So funny, yes, but perhaps a little close to home, too.
Total fluff, too.
Literary Vice 