Eccentric Brits and academia: The Dean's Diaries should have been squarely in my wheelhouse. I can't think of a book set in academia that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed; Jane Smiley's Moo, Richard Russo's Straight Man, Neal Stephenson's underappreciated The Big U, and, more recently, Julie Schumacher's Dear Committee Members are among my favorite novels. On the British side of the equation, I have been enamored of all things Oxbridge since I was a candidate (unsuccessfully, I'm sorry to say) for the Rhodes Scholarship more than 30 years ago, and I was in tears when I ran out of episodes of Inspector Lewis to binge-watch.

I was surprised, therefore, when I didn't love The Dean's Diaries. I suspect that some of the British humor (or humour) escaped me, so I will be interested in seeing how readers from the UK respond to this book. For me, The Dean's Diaries was just OK, but it did produce one of my favorite quotes of 2015:

"[S]tudents are a menace. Every year I am a year older, while every year they are exactly the same age. It's intolerable."

My sentiments exactly.

I received a free copy of The Dean's Diaries through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

In this highly entertaining book, the Dean of St. Andrew's College in Edinburgh gives a witty and funny account of his eccentric colleagues via entries into his diaries. When they aren't falling down the laundry chutes they are up to other shenanigans, which often made me laugh out loud. I particularly enjoyed the chapter entitled 'Dean on the Phone' as well as the musings on American baseball, the 'Ordynance of 1565' and the comedy of 'misprisions' (mistaking someone for another person), and so many others. The illustrations were an added bonus. I hope the Dean is hard at work on volume two because, I for one, am waiting for more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Luath Press Limited for allowing me to read the ebook in exchange for an honest review. ( )

St. Andrews College is St. Trinian’s for the staff. The dons, deans and support staff (there are no students) provide endless fuel for comic fires, based on Scottish eccentricities. While we might think the English have the market for eccentrics sewn up, Purdie makes the case that the Scottish are nothing to be laughed at.

Everything that goes on at St. Andrews is fair game for a jaundiced smirk:

At the Annual General Meeting, the Dean reports that things began with “the interminable ‘Prayer for Divine Intercession’”, followed by the president’s homily - on lobster cloning. This compared favorably to the AGM of 1656, where swords were drawn, pistols fired and a candelabrum fell from the ceiling, injuring three. After all the cursing and personal attacks, the meeting adjourned to dinner. Just another ritual at St. Andrews.

The book is a collection of five page memos from the Dean’s office, suitable for blogging. They are often broken up by a cartoon from Bob Dewar. They have a lovely rhythm, which I began to appreciate as after dinner speeches. There is a topic, followed tangential references and diversions, interspersed with relevant (for the most part), standalone jokes. One needs to balance the message with the story and both with humour, and so keep the audience’s attention. And Purdie does, both in print and as a highly accomplished – after dinner speaker.

The overall effect is not so much self deprecating, as self flagellating. Everything at St. Andrews is eccentric. From the old school rituals to the Anti-Gravity Lab, everything is subject to ridicule, in a state of appreciative wonderment.

David Wineberg ( )