I Still Have It . . . I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It: Confessions of a Fiftysomething [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Rita Rudner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2008 | Series: Where I Put It:Confessions of

I bought a new wrinkle cream.
If you use it once a day, you look younger in a month.
Twice a day, you look younger in two weeks.
I ate it.

As the years go by, and the decades begin to pile up, people will do just about anything to reverse the signs of aging: LASIK surgery, industrial-strength hair dye, seven consecutive forty-ninth birthday parties. Rita Rudner is no exception. When she turned fifty, she couldn’t even bear to say the word.

In I Still Have It . . . I Just Can’t Remember Where I Put It, Rudner writes with humor and candor about all of the small indignities and everyday absurdities that have become standard fare. From the perils of catalog-ordering addiction to the challenges of keeping up with the latest in electronics, lingerie, and reality television to the joys and worries of being an older mother to the long search for the perfect retirement house, Rita covers it all.

So put on your bifocals and power up your sense of humor! Just don’t blame Rita when your laugh lines get visibly deeper. Refreshingly honest and undeniably hilarious, I Still Have It . . . I Just Can’t Remember Where I Put It is a laugh-out-loud look at the wonders and the surprises of life on the dark side of fifty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rudner's best known as a comedienne, appearing in films such as Peter's Friends, and performing nightly in Vegas. It's no surprise, then, that the crucial element missing from her latest (after Turning the Tables) is the little-girl-lost delivery she's famous for. As it is, the actress-screenwriter-author scribes an intermittently hilarious hodge-podge on the joys of aging, and other preoccupations. Among four dozen semi-related short pieces-comprised of anecdotes, comedy routines, lists, questions and touching vignettes-some is pure filler: a chapter on her Oscar gift basket, a tedious anecdote about a mean dad at her daughter's preschool class, "Future Reality Shows." When she hits, however, she hits big, landing absurdist gems like her chapter on getting ready to leave the house: "Being a woman is difficult... It's like being a female impersonator every single day." Though she deploys a refreshingly dry eye about the aging process, some readers will find her shtick a bit too rarified, based as it is on a distinctly privileged lifestyle.
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Review

“Rita Rudner is hard to beat for quick takes …. Tales about dining out in L.A. late at night, driving to Mexico with new (and irresponsible) friends or grappling with computer errors are humorous.”
—The Miami Herald

“A quick, enjoyable read, wonderfully and hysterically self-deprecating….Simply said, funny.”
—The Star-Ledger

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Crown Archetype (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030739459X
• ISBN-13: 978-0307394590
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #846,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SHE'S STILL GOT IT!, May 25, 2008

By 

Rima Rudner "Rima Rudner" (Pacific Palisades, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Still Have It . . . I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It: Confessions of a Fiftysomething (Hardcover)

Rita hasn't gotten senile enough yet to have misplaced her sense of humor. She gives us a zany look into the world of a 30-year-old comedienne locked inside a fiftysomething body. She manages to find the zanyness (is that a word?) in the mundane, the absurdity in all our lives, and the humor in her pain. It's a fast, easy read and you'll love it! ... Rima Rudner Choose To Be Happy: A Guide to Total Happiness

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, and worth reading, May 20, 2008

By 

Ursiform (Torrance, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Still Have It . . . I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It: Confessions of a Fiftysomething (Hardcover)

This book is not as consistently funny as "Naked Beneath My Clothes"; maybe fifty-something writers (and readers) are past the joke-a-minute stage of life. The tone is more like the tone of her two novels, with some great jokes, some amusing stories, and some reflective passages. But you'll certainly get some laughs, and learn more about the author in the process. If you've enjoyed her prior work, you'll enjoy this book. I'd say it's funnier than "Tickled Pink", but not as funny as "Turning the Tables". But it's not a novel, so it's much more about Rita. And that's not a bad thing. I think she has aged well, as has her humor.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read, June 16, 2008

By 

Eleanora (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Still Have It . . . I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It: Confessions of a Fiftysomething (Hardcover)

I had not read anything by Rita Rudner before, though I have enjoyed her on-stage comedy. I was a bit skeptical before starting this book, as many comics are much funnier on stage than on the page. What a pleasant surprise to find that Ms. Rudner is a good writer, and her humor translates well to book form. I am also in my fifties and could identify with a lot that she mentioned. In addition to the humor, I was touched by the stories of her father's final days, and her dog Bonkers. I plan to look up her earlier books now, and hope that she plans another one soon !