"Linda Richman has lived through a lot and learned as she went along. This book is full of no-nonsense Linda-isms. It will enrich your life."
-from the Foreword by Rosie O'Donnell

"It's one thing to hear your $150-an-hour (excuse me, fifty minutes) shrink say that if you do this, this, and this, you'll laugh again. It's another, I think, to hear it from me."

A tragic childhood, agoraphobia, and the death of a beloved son...Linda Richman has suffered more hurt, loss, and rejection than any person ought, yet she still has the power to find joy in living. In I'D RATHER LAUGH, she shares both her unbelievable losses and setbacks—and the uplifting, often uproarious ways she's dealt with them. She discovered that...sometimes you just have to blurt out your feelings to perfect strangers...a "pity party" can be the perfect way to get back on your feet...house cleaning, chocolate, and a pair of Groucho glasses can be as helpful as psychotherapy...and when you're feeling your most powerless, you always have more choices than you think.

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"I'm supposed to be a basket case by now. I'm supposed to be totally defeated and deflated by circumstance and fate. A walking tragedy. The person about whom you say, 'There but for the grace of God...' But learned that we can withstand a lot of pain and loss and not just survive it but rise above it.

"Okay, I hear you saying, Ms. Big Shot, tell me how..."

I'D RATHER LAUGH

She's a summa cum laude graduate of the School of Hard Knocks. A lecturer at Canyon Ranch (yeah, that fancy spa). A woman who reaches out to help others by sharing her own incredible story. She's also, believe it or not, the mother-in-law of comedian Mike Myers-and even inspired some of his craziest sketches with her irresistible sense of humor.

The thing that will impress you the most, though, is Linda's string of almost unbelievable losses and setbacks-and the equally unbelievable way she's dealt with them.

How did Linda persevere? She will tell you about the subway rides and the cleaning binges, the loneliness, the relentless spiritual questing, and all-night sessions with the saddest movies she could find. And then she'll tell you about the healing-how the process slowly revealed itself and how she has used it to heal others.

In the words of Linda herself, this is a "self-help book for people who realize self-help doesn't come in books." In it, she offers the type of blunt, no-nonsense advice you probably haven't heard since that bold, brassy, always reliable best friend of your youth gave you a breath-of-fresh-air reality check. The truth is, when it comes to facing the worst that life can dish out, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Linda Richman has been there before you.

"It's one thing to hear your $150-an-hour (excuse me, fifty minutes) shrink say that if you do this, this, and this, you'll laugh again. It's another, I think, to hear it from me."

"But we'll see, right? We have a whole book ahead of us."