42. 
Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Author: Alan Bradley
Pages: 306
Genre: Mystery
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:  Library Loan
Date Completed: May 13, 2012
Rating: ***

Flavia de Luce is the third and youngest daughter of an old English family.  Having lost her mother at a young age, it appears that Flavia has largely been left to raise herself, which she has done through extensive reading and an obsession with Chemistry.  Indeed, it is this interest that most defines Flavia, as she responds to emotional stress and strain by imagining what poisons she can cook up in her lab as revenge.  Confident and intelligent with a strong dislike for authority, Flavia is just the sort of girl I would have adored at eleven, and just the sort of over-confident character that I find tedious as an adult. 

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie seems to be an excuse for Bradley to write about pet subjects - chemistry, for example, and stamps - and the lectures on these subjects frequently lead the narrator away from the narrative.  For one who is interested in these subjects these asides would be an excellent diversion, and would not likely detract from the novel; however, the discussions related to philately were so dull that I frequently found my mind wandering, and had to force myself back to the narrative.

I, for one, do not find that my own reading lives up to the hype.