I Still Have It...I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It: Confessions of a Fiftysomething

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.