5 Reasons Melissa Rivers’ The Book of Joan Is on Our Must-Read List

Barnes & Noble

There is not, nor will there ever be, another comedian like Joan Rivers. A pioneer, a truth-teller, and an unapologetically sharp-tongued staple of the red carpet and talk-show scene, she could get as good as she gave, which is saying something when your zingers include lines like, “I hope she was going for laughs, because she got them. She looked like a decorative toilet seat cover.” Rivers passed away in 2014, after five decades in the spotlight. On May 5, The Book of Joan, a remembrance and semi-memoir by Rivers’ daughter and frequent collaborator, Melissa Rivers, is hitting shelves, and we’re already itching to get our hands on it. Here’s why you should pre-order a copy today.

Notes From Your Bookseller

The promise of the subtitle
The book’s full title is The Book of Joan: Mirth, Mischief, and Manipulation, and we say “yes, please” to all of that.
The backstage pass to Rivers’ offscreen life
Nobody is as well-placed as Melissa to shine a light on who her mother was when the cameras were off (our suspicion/hope: very similar to who she was when they were on).
The funny
Says Melissa, via her publisher, “In our family we always believed that laughter was the best medicine. I wanted to write a book that would make my mother laugh. I hope it makes you laugh, too.”
The Rivers one-liners only Melissa can share
The book may contain our last delightfully vinegary dose of Rivers’ trademark barbs. Like this one, a far cry from the way most mothers would respond to a request for homework help: “I can do tips and discounts and figure out the number of gay men in an audience to make it a good show. That’s all the math you’ll ever need.”
The anecdotes
For those of us never got to sit down for a long, dishy lunch with Rivers, her books were always the next best thing. But in a life as rich, celebrity-studded, and hilariously observed as hers, there are zillions of stories that remain untold. This is a woman who made herself equally at home on Broadway, on the set of the Johnny Carson Show, and, of course, anywhere a celebrity dared to walk a red carpet in an ugly dress. We don’t want to believe that her story is done.
Pre-order The Book of Joan here >

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