Reign vs. Rule

I finished Sovereign Ladies: The Six Reigning Queens of England by Maureen Waller on Monday. It is a very good book. I know I usually don't begin with such a simplistic statement, but I'm still a little awed by Waller's writing. It's a history book, and as much as I love history and usually slog through history books, Waller's writing style is incredibly easy to read and moves the book along a nice pace. To finish a history book in a week? That's rare for me (especially as this one is some 500 pages). Waller's discussions of Mary I, Mary II, and Anne I found particularly interesting as I don't think I knew as much about them as I do about Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II (which to be honest is a whole heck of a lot). I don't know if in my study of the periods I never really thought about women's roles before or Waller just pointed it out nicely for me, but she took into account that these women were raised and trained a certain way, and had to deal with being women in powerful positions at times when normal (for lack of better term) women had no power (Elizabeth II excluded). Mary I, Waller points out, was basing her idea of rule on the stories of Ferdinand and Isabella, her grandparents, and how Isabella retained rule of her lands but shared power with Ferdinand. Perhaps these stories were simply fond memories her mother, Katherine of Aragon, had, but they had quite an effect upon Mary, who was looking for some aspect of her life to go well and happily and thought marriage would be it. Mary II was content to obey her husband, William of Orange, in whatever he decided to do (William is an oddity as he reigned after his wife died, whereas Philip II did not, and after William, not of the Queens' consorts have been given the title of King; George of Denmark, Anne's husband, even though she did fight for the King title for him; Prince Albert, Victoria's husband, and Prince Philip, Elizabeth II's husband). I'll go and on about this book and the random little nuggets of knowledge I learned from it if I don't contain myself. Waller poses a question in the epilogue of whether or not there will be a monarch after Elizabeth II; will the British people decide they've really just had enough and dissolve the monarchy? What a time that will be. She also seems to think that Elizabeth II is going to beat Victoria's reign of 64 years. (This has been a small guess of mine for years and at 56 years she's getting closer.)
I've gotten a good third of the way through The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne. Melissa needs a job and ends up creating an agency for poor London shlubs who can't seem to dress themselves nicely or get any kind of girl. She attempts to help them out (as a different person of course). It's a nice fluffy read so far and I'm liking, I admit, I'm liking this chick lit. I'll see how it ends though because I have an idea of how it should end in my head and I'm beginning to think that's not the direction the story is going.
Until I finish that one and can give you a proper review, I remain your Savage Librarian.
PS--Still no Stop in the Name of Pants! It's driving me crazy!