Er, Not Exactly

"Anais Nin, Anne Frank and Sylvia Plath wrote the world's mot famous diaries.  And where are they today?  Dead.  But the world's other great diarest Joan Rivers is alive and kicking.  And complaining." 

From the frontispiece of  "Diary of A Mad Diva" by Joan Rivers   Berkeley Books   290 pages   $26.95

In her last days, Rivers was a great deal funnier than she was in the first (or 15th) flush of youth.  The posse I ran with used to go across Beverly Drive from our clubhouse "Maison Gerard" (bar/restaurant) to the Little Club where Rivers liked to try out new material.  None of us were too impressed -- scratchy voice, begging tones - "Kin we tawk?" over and over.. Eventually she moved on and ... so did we.

But "Diva" is rich with a funny line on very nearly every page.  Some samples -

(from a list of things she loves about Israel)..."voice mail was invented in Israel.  It said, "Leave a message.  Or don't.  I'm only your mother.  I'll be dead by Tuesday anyway."

She went to buy a copy of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" which in Hebrew is "Thirty-Three Shades of Grey" - "We always get a third off" she explains.

She wrote that she didn't go backstage at a Diana Ross concert because "the thought of  saying  "Miss Ross"  to anyone but  Michael Jackson -- too depressing.

She wrote of her sadness at the news that Charles Manson was getting married.  Despite the fact that she's a Jew and Manson thinks he is Jesus; he's still the right age for her.

She complained to her daughter, Melissa, that she was having a bad hair day and that Melissa ran to a lawyer's office to get a Do Not Resuscitate  order. 

Rivers is so irreverent that she makes me laugh out loud - page after page.  Usually a short-chaptered book like this is perfect for bathroom use.  You can pick up and not have missed anything.  

This book was so intriguing that I read it cover-to-cover during a long afternoon.  Now I' sorry it's gone... just like she is.