Product Description

Linda Richman, self-described typical Jewish girl from Long Island and the most popular speaker at the world-renowned Canyon Ranch Spa, presents a tears and laughter guidebook guaranteed to help readers withstand lifes hard knocks. The first four decades of Linda Richmans life were rife with tragedy: She lost her father at eight and her mother to depression soon after; later, she lost her husband to compulsive gambling; her son to a car accident; and spent 11 years battling agoraphobia. But now, Linda shares her life story and how she learned that when all is said and done, the only cure that works, and the one that takes the most courage, is laughter. Combining wry, self-deprecating humor with hard-knocks wisdom, Linda makes it her mission to get everyone to shake off the blues and make their way back into the world. Because she knows from experience that when life makes you crythats the best time to laugh. Through the unexpected celebrity thrust upon her by Mike Myers (Myers is Lindas son-in-law and based the Saturday Night Live Coffee Talk character on her), Linda is connected to many major celebrities, including Deepak Chopra, Katie Couric, Barbra Streisand, and Rosie ODonnell, who has promised to put her on her show when the book is published. As a lecturer at the renowned Canyon Ranch Spas in Tucson, Arizona, and Lenox, Massachusetts, Linda speaks to hundreds of people a week about having the courage to laugh through their pain. Lindas wisdom is refreshingly down-to-earth and reads like the advice from an old friend. Her grounded personality, more than her incidental celebrity, drives the book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #542279 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Amazon.com Review
Remember "Coffee Talk," the Saturday Night Live skit with the Barbara Streisand-loving, constantly verklempt character portrayed by Mike Myers, who encouraged listeners to "talk amongst themselves"? Linda Richman was the inspiration for her. (Myers is her son-in-law; a sharp sense of humor apparently runs in the family.) Like the "Coffee Talk" lady, Richman teaches people how to handle suffering through laughter. She's so good at it that she teaches a seminar on the topic at the posh Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Arizona.

But she speaks from some harrowing experiences. Several friends and relatives have battled cancer. Her 29-year-old son died in a car crash. Her depressed, institutionalized mother died a few days later after falling into a coma (her final words to her daughter: "Linda, you got fat"). In case you're thinking, "Sheesh, how depressing, who wants to read about that stuff?" think again. Her friend Rosie O'Donnell, who wrote the foreword, raves about "Linda-isms." Richman is a modern-day Norman Cousins, but she talks like your best friend--a very witty, resilient friend--offering an inspiring tribute to the power of humor. (Or is it denial?) Heck, what difference does it make, when Richman's "pity party" has you laughing and crying so hard simultaneously?

From Publishers Weekly
Best known as the mother-in-law of comedian Mike Myers and the inspiration for his "Coffee Talk" character on Saturday Night Live, Richman plays it for real in this rambling autobiographical summary of her spiritual journey (through psychotherapy, psychics and a trip to the Holy Land) after she was unhinged by the death of her son, Jordan, at age 29, in a car accident. Richman has had more than her share of hard knocks: her father died when she was eight and her husband had a gambling habit, leading her to become an agoraphobic, unable to leave her home for 11 years. Delivered in a flat, New York tone, Richman, now a lecturer at the posh Canyon Ranch spa (and prone to name-dropping), stresses the importance of making time for fun in one's life ("Fun is better than no fun"). However, she also emphasizes that it's important to accept and embrace the bad. When sadness becomes overwhelming, Richman recommends a two-day, in-bed "pity party." Practical, poignant and funny, this selection leaves listeners feeling as though they have spent an afternoon with a bossy, albeit well-meaning friend. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Forecasts, Jan. 1).

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Richman, mother-in-law of comedian Mike Myers and lecturer at the Canyon Ranch spa in Arizona, comes across as an acquaintance you can only take in small doses. She has indeed had a tough life: she lost her father at age eight and her mother to hospitalization shortly thereafter; her husband was a compulsive gambler, and her son died in a car accident. However, after a few chapters, it starts to sound as if she is making excuses for her own behavior. The writing is disjointed, rambling, and raging, and it reads as if she wrote this for a personal cleansing, relieving and reliving her shock and anger. Despite the title, the emotions are still near the surface and raw. All in all, she has three ideas worth investigating: a pity party, where you allow yourself to grieve; the skill of "catastrophizing"; and listening to your own "red flags" of impending depression. "Do you need a book to tell you this?" she asks. This reader says no. However, she'll be a hit on talk shows, and therefore public libraries will get requests.
-DSusan E. Burdick, MLS, Reading, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Find Contentment From The Inside...
Your Happiness Is There For Good. This is a powerful life altering book in the disguise of a humorous bitter sweet story of a Jewish woman from Queens. I loved it! Linda tells of how she works with many people who you would think are happy because of all their wealth, power and material possessions, but that is not necessarily the case. Wealth, power and material possessions are great to have but having satisfaction, loving relationships and fun is even more rewarding. I found her writing style to be easy to follow and not too philosophical where I could attain the self realization she writes of. I feel I have gained a friendship through reading Linda's book, one which I look forward to visiting with from time to time.

I liked where Linda writes "Express all your feelings, sorrow and joy and everything in between. Repressing them makes you numb." To fight or to try and change them just doesn't work. Another wonderful book that came to mind for me is called "Working On Yourself Doesn't Work" by Ariel and Shya Kane. Linda and the Kanes both write of how simple non judgmental noticing of how you are will transform your life. Where you live life directly as a true expression of yourself.

I also appreciated Linda's avocation of having lots of fun in your life. I rented two of the movies mentioned in her book and like reading Linda's book I cried, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I highly recommend buying and reading both "Working On Yourself Doesn't Work" by the Kanes and "I'd Rather Laugh" by Linda Richman.

i'd rather laugh if i could
i just finished reading this and i'm exhausted from laughing and crying. lindas wit and wisdom have lifted my own spirits. i just loved this book.. shes funny, smart, witty and has lived through what most of us have lived through and much more. she seems to be able to talk to you as you would to a best friend.. i admire her strength, vulnerability and courage but most of all i loved her honestly. she exposes a heart that has been broken and repaired many times.. her life lessons are a real inspiration. i recommend this book to all of those who have suffered losses of any kind. people who have lost anyone can relate to this book. anyone who has lost a dream will relate to this.. we all hope our lives turn out a certain way and when it doesn't we're disappointed... this book shows us how to return to joy and laughter with some practical help.. nothing airy fairy here. i thank linda for writing this book .

I'D RATHER LAUGH
I would recommend this book to anyone who has gone through (or is going through) the hardships of life and still has not found their way out. Linda has a wonderful and funny way of helping us with almost everything that life brings us.

She has been to hell and back and she can still laugh. She had me in tears and also laughing so hard, I thought my sides would split. But most of all, she made me think about how I live my life and how I handle all the problems that come my way. It's more than just a self-help book, it's her life story and it's one very good read.

Do yourself a big favor today. Buy the book. You will laugh and cry, but you will also learn so much about yourself too.