by JULIET WATERS

The thesis of Blink, a book that will be generating a lot of buzz this month, is that humans in general need a lot less information than they think to make good decisions. Evidence shows, according to popular scientist Malcom Gladwell, that snap decisions made on gut feelings are usually just as good as decisions made after much deliberation. This makes sense to me, having come to believe that you usually can judge a book, if not by its cover, then by its first chapter. Here are a few books that look like they may be winners, even if they haven't been read yet from cover to cover.

Given the success of Montrealer Nelly Arcan's Putain four years ago, it's a good bet that the English version, Whore, backed by a big New York publisher, will be a hit. Of course that's what people hoped last fall of Melissa P's pseudo-masochistic 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed, until whatever made it a European bestseller got lost in translation. Still, Arcan's story of a teenage girl gone bad seems at first glance less pretentious and less likely to have sex scenes using the word "lance."

Also in the category of sordid but promising is Everyone's Pretty, a new novel by Toronto-born Lydia Millet, about a pornographer with Messianic delusions. It looks to be in the same wickedly hilarious vein as her previous novel, George Bush, Dark Prince of Love.

It's hard to say whether recent events will be a good or bad thing for Thai-American Rattawut Lapcharoensap and his first collection of stories, Sightseeing. Hopefully the brilliance that advance reviews are promising will overcome the sad fact that the Thai resort communities Lapcharoensap describes bear little resemblance to our image of them now. Rising Canadian star Camilla Gibb may fare better in the global lit category with Sweetness in the Belly, a novel that starts out in Thatcher's London and journeys back to Haile Selassie's Ethiopia.

Canadian writers continue their love affair with historical fiction. Joseph Boyden's first novel Three Day Road follows two young Cree friends as they join the army in World War I, overcome marginalization with their superior marksmanship skills, and struggle with their consciences. Sheila Heti follows up her quirky collection of short stories with her first novel, Ticknor, based in 1860 Boston. Heti is moving to Montreal this month, so expect a good launch party here sometime in early spring.

Unfortunately, the launch party for Mosh Pit already happened last month at Café Esperanza, but readers looking for a good queer punkrawk teen novel will probably do well with Kristyn Dunnion's latest in the young adult genre. Finally, the wait will soon be over for fans of Ian McEwan's Atonement. His latest, Saturday, is a relatively slim psychological thriller that takes place all on one Saturday in February 2003.

Reading for real

In non-fiction, it looks like the oldest profession is also a hot theme this season. Love for Sale: A World History of Prostitution by Nils Johan Ringdal was controversial when it first came out in Europe. Translated from Norwegian, it will soon be available in paperback.

Right in time for the Oscars, Sean Penn: His Life and Times is an oral history edited by Richard T. Kelly and told by pretty much everyone in Hollywood. Political junkies should be happy with Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West by Hugh Miles - particularly timely if plans to launch an English version of the network in 2005 go through.

Anyone who enjoyed the male mid-life crisis sleeper Sideways might get a kick out of Honeymoon With My Brother by Franz Wisner, a memoir of two brothers who hit the road after one of them gets ditched before his wedding. Yes, it's already been optioned for the screen. Memoir fans, however, may be thrilled enough just by the planned visit to Montreal by David Sedaris sometime in the early summer.