Be Ready When the Luck Happens
A Memoir
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4.4 • 372 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Town & Country
Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.
From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This is absolutely everything we want in a memoir from chef-turned-lifestyle-goddess Ina Garten. There are casually revealing details about her life, lessons learned from her nearly five-decade career, stories both hilarious and unexpectedly emotional—and, of course, Jeffrey. Ina’s unconventional marriage (they’re madly in love and, for most of their relationship, have seen each other only on weekends) is the spine of this memoir. That said, Ina’s own story—growing up in suburban Connecticut with emotionally distant parents, then becoming a college student, military wife, and Washington bureaucrat before deciding on a whim to buy a struggling beachside food store in the Hamptons—is pretty fascinating. (Turns out the store was called The Barefoot Contessa even before Ina bought it!) Written in the same down-to-earth style she’s made famous on TV and in her cookbooks, Be Ready When the Luck Happens is an utter delight.
Customer Reviews
Truthful
This memoir reads like Ina’s TV shows; easy, casual, great detail and thoughtful.
Wonderful read!
I’ve been an avid fan of Ina Garten for many years and have every cookbook she’s written. It came as no surprise to me that she would write a memoir that was equally as colorful and enjoyable. It was so interesting learning about her early life and her start in the culinary world. Her love affair with her darling husband, Jeffrey, is one for the ages. I read this book in two sittings - I simply could not put it down!
Disappointing
I like and follow Ina Garten so was looking forward to reading her memoir. Just finished it and have to say: was really disappointed and almost didn’t even finish it. It starts out interesting when she unpacks her childhood, which was sad and lonely. But from the time she meets her future husband of 56 years on, her life seems like one serendipitous “go into an outhouse and come out wearing a new suit” - everything comes up roses for her. Her endeavors involve vast amounts of capital that belie a life of privilege simply not relatable to most people. She alludes to the feminist changes that have happened for women in her lifetime, but still caters to her husband, renovating her luxurious apartment in Paris down to having his toothbrush and clothes ready and waiting for him the first time he comes to see her freshly renovated home - he wasn’t expected to be involved whatsoever - just show up. In the second half of the book, it’s just a compilation of name-dropping celebrity anecdotes and isn’t my life/business success amazing. Her feigned modesty that “I always thought it was just luck but I’ve been told it’s hard work, too” rings false. Bottomline: this book left a bad taste in my mouth, unlike most of her recipes.