Back on the Bookshelf: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)

It's rare that I don't finish a book once it's started.  I always figure that once started, I have invested time into reading the beginning of it that I feel bad putting it down.  Am I not wasting those minutes or hours that I have already spent reading the first few chapters?  I also always hope that the book will get better all of a sudden or there will be some twist that will make things more interesting.

However, this time I looked at it a different way.  There are so many books out there that I have been wanting to read that I didn't want to waste time reading a book that I wasn't 100% into.  As much as I feel bad for returning this one to the library unfinished, I am excited to move on to something else.

I made it exactly half way through the book The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley when I decided that I wasn't going to invest any more time reading it. 

The book is a mystery about a young girl, Flavia de Luce.  At their home, a bird is left dead on their doorstep with a stamp on its beak.  The next day, Flavia finds the body of a man in their garden.  She is quite the little scientist and tries to take it upon herself to solve the mystery behind the death and clear her father's name since he is currently the prime suspect in this murder investigation. 

Sounds interesting, right?  It came highly recommended from a family member and Goodreads even describes it as a "wickedly brilliant first novel." 

I don't want to say that since I wasn't enjoying it, no one else will.  In what I read in the first half, it was a well written book with lots of description and good character development.  I think I found it very wordy and maybe it was a little bit too much for me right now with the type of reading I am doing - mostly on my lunch breaks, in noisy environments, and for short periods of time.

This book isn't one of my favourites this year, unfortunately...  Here's hoping my next book adventure goes a little better!