One title on her list:
Portuguese Irregular VerbsRead about all five books on Dumas' list.
by Alexander McCall Smith
Anchor, 2003
British author Alexander McCall Smith, best known for his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mystery series, reliably brings a light touch to his work, but he gives his comedic instincts full rein in the series named for its first entry, "Portuguese Irregular Verbs." Smith was a longtime law professor at the University of Edinburgh, and here he follows the adventures of Prof. Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, an expert in the Portuguese language who feels that he hasn't been accorded the sort of professional respect he deserves. His attempts to correct that shortfall invariably end in priceless indignities -- as when von Igelfeld, on a visit to Fayetteville, Ark., is mistaken for a German veterinarian and finds himself about to operate on a dog.
--Marshal Zeringue