by JULIET WATERS

Chalk it up to my cold, cruel Canadian heart, but of all the books coming out this winter, the one I'm most looking forward to curling up with is American Sucker by David Denby. Best known for his great book, appropriately titled Great Books and described by Joyce Carol Oates as an "ecstasy of imaginative journalism," Denby is also a staff writer and film critic for The New Yorker. His second book, due out any day, is about his desperate attempt in 2000 to make a million dollars on the stock market so he could buy out his ex-wife's share of their New York City apartment.

Next on my list is Hollis Gillespie's Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch: Tales From a Bad Neighborhood. Part-time flight attendant and regular commentator for National Public Radio, if Gillespie's book is as good as the excerpts, she may be on her way to becoming one of the funniest American essayists. Other cool memoirs to look for this season are An Innocent, a Broad by Ann Leary, wife of actor Denis, about the year they were forced to live in London after their baby was born prematurely. If heartwarming isn't your thing, you may prefer My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers by leading forensic psychiatrist Helen Morrison.

Last year's trend of books praising the single life continues with Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics by Sasha Cagen, a book to go with the movement Cagen started a few years ago. If you suspect you might be a Quirkyalone, pencil in Feb. 14, once known as Valentine's Day, now the second annual International Quirkyalone Day. If you're Quirky but not necessarily alone or romantic, you'll probably prefer Kaiju Big Battel: A Practical Guide to Giant City Crushing Monsters. Part WWF, part Japanese B-movie and a large part insane parody, this is the book to go with the phenomenon started by Boston-based Studio Kaiju. Learn more about it at www.kaiju.com. If you're more hopelessly retro than romantic, keep an eye out for Hef's Little Black Book by Bill Zehme. Hopefully this will be as informative and fun as Zehme's last book, The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin'.

Hot fiction predictions

Winter's not always a great time for fiction, since publishers tend to publish the better books when they expect to sell them, in fall. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by former L.A. film producer Elisabeth Johnson may be an exception. Part Lovely Bones, part Bridget Jones and peppered with poison-penned jabs at Hollywood celebs including Robin Williams and Steve Martin, this may be the break-out bestseller of the season.

Another good bet may be Hot Plastic, a first novel by Peter Craig, who's been described as "Elmore Leonard meets Dennis Lehane meets Quentin Tarantino." Hidden Place by Shawn Shiflett, about a couple's hellish vacation in Mexico, has been highly praised by Irvine Welsh. The safest bet of all may be John Le Carre's latest, Absolute Friends, set in the scary new world of the war-on-terror.

On the local scene there's major buzz surrounding the first novel by part-time Montrealer Colin McAdam, Some Great Thing. McAdam, who also lives in Sydney, Australia, has scored a major publishing deal with U.K. publisher Jonathan Cape and U.S. publisher Harcourt. Keep an eye out for that in April. Also in April expect a visit from the hugely popular Haitian-American novelist Edwidge Danticat, who'll be here for Blue Metropolis with her new novel The Dew Breaker.