Read any good books lately? Here are a couple of recent releases that impressed.

"Museum" by Danny Danziger; Viking, $27.95

If you've been to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book will make you want to go again. Danziger has composed an "oral portrait" of the museum by interviewing people who work there. Most speak with disarming frankness. Curators talk about the artworks they cherish (an "Arms & Armor" curator acknowledges that his career path began when he read "Prince Valiant" comics as a boy). A trustee and avid collector, asked to name his favorite work, says that "the art I have is like having a harem, and with a harem you like all the ladies equally." The head of security talks about catching thieves, watching for terrorists and meeting presidents. ("It's a bit of an ego trip, to tell you the truth.") Readers will gain a sense of the museum as a human endeavor, performed by people who like their work. "This is an ennobling place," says Robert Bethea Jr., who greets visitors at the information desk.

"The Manual" by Steve Santagati; Crown, $21.95

This brings to mind a Garry Shandling joke: "I'm dating a homeless woman. It was easier talking her into staying over." Dating, it seems, has always involved strategy, whether you're an angst-ridden comic or a self-proclaimed bad boy like Santagati. (May we suggest that even women who are attracted to bad boys might have second thoughts about a man who calls himself one?) His book makes dating strategies, in this case for women, seem like nuclear negotiations, with a secret weapon (subliminal manipulation) and a message: Manage your bad boy well and he'll stick around for more. There's a certain cringe factor here, with such chapter headings as "How Bad Boys Bring Out the Best in Women" and "Cleavage, and Other Reasons to Wear a Shirt Well." Santagati comes off better in television appearances, yet even on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" women seemed a bit resistant to his shtick.