The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The book The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was the one that began this list for me, and I am so lucky it did.

A mystery novel by Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie features a girl named Flavia de Luce that is all moxie. Fancying herself an organic chemist (a point that she proves throughout the story), she finds a dead body in her backyard and tries to solve the mystery. Needless to say, she uses her understanding of chemistry to help her along the way, most of which was far above my head.

So I'll come right out and say it. Read this book. It was wonderful! I LOVE the book and Flavia, and I was completely swept up by her eagerness to be involved in the world around her. I was sold within the first few pages, but a paragraph in chapter four sealed the deal.

" 'I've brought you some nice seed biscuits,' [Mrs. Mullet] said. 'Seed biscuits and tea and a nice glass of milk for Miss Flavia.'
Seed biscuits and milk! I hated Mrs. Mullet's seed biscuits the way Saint Paul hated sin. Perhaps even more so. I wanted to clamber up onto the table, and with a sausage in the end of a fork as my scepter, shout in my best Laurence Olivier voice, 'Will no one rid us of this turbulent pastry cook?'
But I didn't. I kept my peace." (p 49)

Isn't she delightful?

Perhaps a part of my love for Flavia had to do with the fact that I identified so much with her, but I suspect most people would. She has a knack for getting into trouble, and thinks things that are far above being an eleven-year-old (like organic chemistry). I thoroughly HATE chemistry, but I saw a part of her in myself when she said:

"As I stood outside in Cow Lane, it occurred to me that Heaven must be a place where the library is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
No... eight days a week." (p 57-58)

Honestly, I adored this book. It was an easy read that made me smile and occasionally laugh out loud. I wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone and everyone.

Now for what I didn't like: There's going to be a sequel.

I know that I'm alone in my feelings of this, but when I really, really love a book, I don't want to read a second one. I feel like the second books changes my perception of the first book, and that is irksome. This happened with Love Walked In by Marisa de Los Santos most recently- the sequel changed how much I loved the first one. Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think so. I think Flavia is a delightful heroine, but having a second book takes the spontaneity out of her first mystery. I don't know; I hope I'm wrong and the next book is even better.

So now please, please, let me know what you think!