I'd Rather Laugh: How to be Happy Even When Life Has Other Plans forYou

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?