Four reviews in four days, and other news

The results of my four-day reading/reviewing marathon in early January are finally online:

• Sheila Kohler, Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness
• Donald McCaig, Canaan
• Mark Slouka, The Visible World (do not read the Publishers Weekly review first; horrible spoiler)
• Michael Wallner, April in Paris

Unfortunately I can't read this quickly all the time, but then I was still on holiday break over New Year's. Other news bits:

Read more about Prince Michael of Greece's new historical novel Le Rajah de Bourbon (yes, it's in French), which "traces the swashbuckling story of [Balthazar Napolean de] Bourbon's first royal ancestor in India." Bourbon, an Indian lawyer/part-time farmer, is supposedly a long-lost descendant of the Bourbon kings. Time to brush up on my French.

The Boston Globe reviews Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor, but not without bringing to the table some prejudices on historical fiction. "Bodice-ripper argot"?

Israeli novelist Eva Etzioni-Halevy, author of The Garden of Ruth, speaks about researching and writing biblical fiction.

What was so great about Catherine? An older piece (complete with, um, tacky photo) from Salon.com about Virginia Rounding's Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power, which also discusses other "princess books" found on the display tables of your local bookstore.