literary threesome

[January 11th, 2006] SELF-MADE MAN Who hasn't been tempted by the idea of being someone else—even a member of the opposite sex? This curiosity got the best of syndicated columnist Norah Vincent, who went incognito as a man for 18 months. Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again (Viking, 287 pages, $24.95), her account of the experience, is lucid, engaging and remarkably insightful. It chronicles her alter ego, "Ned," as he joined a bowling league, entered a monastery, dated women, frequented strip clubs and worked in sales. It's a must-read for anyone curious about the masks thrust upon us by gender roles, sexual identity (Vincent herself happens to be gay), and the surprisingly false preconceptions we all have about what makes a man—well, a man. KARLA STARR.

THE ACCIDENTAL After earning the applause of U.K. reviewers—including last week's honor: Whitbread Novel of the Year Award—Ali Smith's new novel, The Accidental (Pantheon, 320 pages, $22.95), which chronicles the summer holidays of the dysfunctional Smart family, has finally hopped the pond. At the center of the story is a woman named Amber, an enigma who eases into the lives of the Smarts and takes over, manipulating them but also—through rudeness and seduction—waking them up. This is a story about the power an outsider can have and about what happens when someone picks up a rock that hasn't been disturbed in years, turns it over and tosses it down somewhere else. Smart's prose is fluid, varied and image-rich, and The Accidental is imaginative and totally entertaining. JOANNA CANTOR.

MASTERS OF AMERICAN COMICS If you made a New Year's resolution to learn something new, why torture yourself with Hungarian Knitting Trends of the 1890s or Let's Lance Grandma's Boil? Learn about something that's both fun and historically rich by getting Masters of American Comics (Yale University Press, 328 pages, $45), edited by John Carlin, Paul Karasik and Brian Walker. On one hand, it's a lavishly illustrated coffee-table book, with scads of reproductions from the likes of everyone from current superstar Chris Ware to Gasoline Alley's Frank King. On the other, it's a content-ripe cornucopia of essays, from authors including Dave Eggers and Matt Groening, all in a book destined to make you the coolest nerd on the block. KARLA STARR.