Bethanne, I'd respectfully disagree with your opinion that books have lost much of their power. Look at the Harry Potter books, "The DaVinci Code" and similar titles. "DaVinci" sparked a wave of commentary from the Catholic Church and other religions about whether Jesus might have married Mary Magdalene and had a child. It also inspired other books about DaVinci. The Harry Potter phenomenon has brought millions of kids back to reading. J.K. Rowling is a billionaire at age 42, richer than the Queen. It has encouraged many imitators. Books will always be written and with us, even if it's "only" us women reading them for many years. Books are knowledge, escapism from abuse and neglect within a family, inexpensive travel to new worlds and much more.

I agree with Lisa's comment. I also think that the while the British monarchy may be losing political power, that in no way means that it is not a powerful entity, especially in the literary world. Of all the 'public' political leaders of this century, the British monarchy has been the most stable and consistent. Elizabeth II has lead the UK through most of the past century, her figure is known, fixed in minds across the globe, and revered with a sense of romantic nostalgia. in contrast, our leaders change every four years. you just can't get that close to them. They may be more volatile subjects for a literary work, but they're not quite as potent, at least in my mind.

Lisa and Elizabeth, your comments are fantastic. I agree, as well; when I say that "books have lost much of their power," I should qualify: I mean that they've lost much of their currency as things that people feel they must/should know about. The phenomenal success of individual titles, like Harry Potter and Da Vinci Code, sadly does not seem to encourage the public at large to seek out information on other books or to purchase new books. Dwindling book review pages everywhere and sinking sales figures on books that aren't blockbusters have made a curmudgeon out of me. At least this week. I think I need a good long afternoon in a bookstore and a large pile of books to buy as a tonic...