Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit

In this new book about aging, stand-up comic and talk show host Rivers combines her two most marketable talents: snappy wit and common sense. Returning to the self-help genre, which she successfully mastered in Bouncing Back and From Mother to Daughter, she intersperses a seemingly endless supply of jokes (some laugh-out-loud funny, many provoking a smile or a groan) with practical, intelligent and easy-to-follow advice on coping with getting older. Most of the counsel is the stuff of magazine articles: exercise regularly; watch your diet; dress well to feel better; use cosmetics; and keep your home clean and well decorated. There are tips about plastic surgery, making friends, the need to move on after a loss and (more surprisingly) how to date over the Internet, as well as about the benefits of dating younger men. Rivers doesn't aim for the strong, sustained prose of her autobiographical Enter Talking, but manages to entertain and casually inform. There are certainly more serious, comprehensive guides to aging, but Rivers's fans will enjoy this breezy pep talk. (Apr.)