Some very interesting and entertaining books arrived on our shelves as 2006 drew to a close, and even more good books are on the horizon. Some of the newest titles have proven to be quite controversial, such as Jimmy Carter's Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. This book has been met with both cheers and jeers, but the former president has said he doesn't mind as long as it keeps us talking.

Dangerous Nation, by the distinguished scholar Robert Kagan, is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the development of American foreign policy and our place in the world. He takes a new look at our country's progress from colonial times to the present and he makes a compelling new case that the term "isolationist" never did fit—and that in fact, we have been viewed abroad as powerful, ambitious, innovative and yes, even dangerous.

Now for something a bit lighter: Rupert Everett's autobiography, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins. Everett is perhaps best known to us as Julia Roberts's gay buddy in the film "My Best Friend's Wedding." He's oh-so-much-more than that—he's witty, unflinchingly honest, openly gay and devastatingly handsome. And if you saw him in the film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, you'll also know he's a great actor.

Marlena De Blasi, author of A Thousand Days in Venice and A Thousand Days in Tuscany, now brings us The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria. This installment concerns the efforts of the author and her husband to restore and then move into a ballroom in a palazzo (or palace). In the process, there's lots of food, wine and eccentric characters.

We can't leave the realm of nonfiction without mentioning From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth. The cover alone is enough to make you want to hug this book. Marines found a tiny puppy in the ruins of Fallujah, named him Lava, and successfully brought him to safety in the United States, despite all the rules and regulations against just such an act. Get out the hankies!

Among the interesting new fiction titles is a book by a local Washington attorney. Patrick Hyde has written a great new mystery, The Only Pure Thing, in which his hero, Stuart Clay, takes on such timely issues as homelessness, the mob and Washington, D.C.'s so-called renaissance. As with all good thrillers, there's a whole lot more than meets the eye in The Only Pure Thing, which Michael Connelly describes as "a legal thriller full of grit and charm and telling details from every link in the justice food chain."

We hope there will be many more legal adventures awaiting Stuart in the future.

Alice Hoffman has written her 19th novel, Skylight Confessions. This follows the familiar Hoffman formula (while being anything but formulaic) of magical realism, death, redemption and the faint glimmer of something luminous beyond the destruction and devastation that people impose on each other. This book concerns a girl who decides, after losing her family, to marry the first man she meets, and the consequences of that act, for herself, her children and all those around her, reverberate for decades.

In the literary world of Alice Hoffman you'll find lots of pain and sorrow, but also a fair measure of hope as well.

Red River, by Lalita Tademy (Cane River), explores a little known but bloody event of the Reconstruction era, the Colefax Riot, in which freed slaves fought and died trying to install the newly-elected white Republican sheriff. Tademy uses her own family's experiences during this period to create a compelling saga of life in the South in the first decades after the end of the Civil War.

There are many new books for children, but one we think will—and should—excite the most interest is one that might cause some readers to groan in protest. This is a newly released version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Wait! Don't stop reading yet! This book targets readers aged 10 and up, but parents will enjoy it, too. Really! Marcia Williams has reframed nine of Chaucer's tales with beautiful and enchanting illustrations, as well as some delightful commentary. There are even choice bits of the original Medieval English text that is as funny as ever. This is a real treasure that anyone can enjoy at any age.

For those who may have missed it, there's still The End to be enjoyed. It's Lemony Snicket's last installment of his unique Series of Unfortunate Events, and it's a fitting end (pun entirely intended).

Before long, we'll be talking once again about Harry Potter, as we get ready for the final book in this epic and transformative (for young readers) series featuring the reluctant wizard hero. Till then, happy reading!