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Be Ready When the Luck Happens
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Audiobook (2024), Nominee for Readers' Favorite Memoir (2024)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.
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.
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.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2024
About the author
Ina Garten
33 books1,586 followersIna Garten is a New York Times bestselling author and the host of Barefoot Contessa on Food Network, for which she has won four Emmy Awards and a James Beard Award. She lives in East Hampton, New York, with her husband, Jeffrey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,016 reviews
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October 11, 2024Listened to this gem on audio and loved every second!! True example of how to follow your dreams and do what you love in life. Ina ily!!!
October 13, 2024
I’m an Ina fan but found this book pretty boring. I couldn’t stop listening but can’t tell you why. It was a lot of her grocery lists and real estate choices. A lot. She’s super rich and had been extremely fortunate through her life and career. I learned a lot of details about her life but nothing actually major or unexpected about her as a woman. It felt surface. And yet I finished and didn’t hate it. Ina magic I guess.
October 17, 2024
I listened to Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir and the author, phenomenal cook Ina Garten, narrates it. It felt like I was sitting across a kitchen table having a fabulous conversation with a dear friend.
I did not know that Ina worked in Washington, DC in the legislative department and she wrote memos directly to President Ford about whether to approve or veto proposed legislation. Cooking was a hobby at that point in her life.
Ina's memoir is filled with excellent stories and advice about relationships, marriage, business partnerships, negotiations, and pursuing your dreams. She was deliberate and purposeful, as well as successful, at ensuring her marriage was an equal partnership rather than a traditional relationship where the wife takes care of cooking, cleaning, and keeping the house running smoothly.
The epilogue was well worth it!
Highly recommend!
I did not know that Ina worked in Washington, DC in the legislative department and she wrote memos directly to President Ford about whether to approve or veto proposed legislation. Cooking was a hobby at that point in her life.
Ina's memoir is filled with excellent stories and advice about relationships, marriage, business partnerships, negotiations, and pursuing your dreams. She was deliberate and purposeful, as well as successful, at ensuring her marriage was an equal partnership rather than a traditional relationship where the wife takes care of cooking, cleaning, and keeping the house running smoothly.
The epilogue was well worth it!
Highly recommend!
October 10, 2024
Frothy and a bit out of touch, Be Ready When the Luck Happens isn't surprising in its lack of substance. Ina Garten bills this as a memoir, but this is more of a birdseye, sweeping overview of her career history, the famous people she hangs out with, and her real estate holdings.
The book begins with Garten's traumatizing childhood. We get about 2 sentences of that. By page 44 she and Jeffrey are engaged, and this book is only 300 pages with wide margins, large print, and several pictures and recipes interspersed. I feel badly for folks who preordered this book (lucky me I was #1 in the hold queue at my library); this book is so slight for a woman who has had such a life.
Garten deserves credit for speaking to her and Jeffrey's separation. She says explicitly she included it because the public treats them as the perfect couple, and she wants to show that no relationship is perfect, and marriage can be difficult. She also tackles the childfree question, stating that she didn't want children after the childhood she had, and that women who aren't mothers can be useful and fulfilled. Snaps for that.
In the end, though, Garten spends way too much time talking about buying and selling and renovating properties, and name dropping the people with whom she's spent time. The aforementioned "deep" nuggets (childhood, separation, no children) get very little air time. By the end? I was rolling my eyes. She's telling her readers to just go for it in life, not realizing that she had financial stability a lot of people lack. Her parents sucked, but they had money. She moved back with them when Jeffrey was deployed, and she demonstrates again and again that she never had to worry about / consider money. She bought expensive things without thinking it through (properties, businesses), because she had a parachute. If she had failed, her life wouldn't have been completely ruined. She "jokes" about poverty while Jeffrey is working at fucking Lehman Brothers, and recommends conferring with your financial professionals as if everyone has those on retainer. Her beta readers should have warned her. Then again, her beta readers were probably, like, Jennifer Garner, so she didn't see how rose tinted some of these passages read.
All-in-all, this is another celebrity memoir that is fun without weight.
The book begins with Garten's traumatizing childhood. We get about 2 sentences of that. By page 44 she and Jeffrey are engaged, and this book is only 300 pages with wide margins, large print, and several pictures and recipes interspersed. I feel badly for folks who preordered this book (lucky me I was #1 in the hold queue at my library); this book is so slight for a woman who has had such a life.
Garten deserves credit for speaking to her and Jeffrey's separation. She says explicitly she included it because the public treats them as the perfect couple, and she wants to show that no relationship is perfect, and marriage can be difficult. She also tackles the childfree question, stating that she didn't want children after the childhood she had, and that women who aren't mothers can be useful and fulfilled. Snaps for that.
In the end, though, Garten spends way too much time talking about buying and selling and renovating properties, and name dropping the people with whom she's spent time. The aforementioned "deep" nuggets (childhood, separation, no children) get very little air time. By the end? I was rolling my eyes. She's telling her readers to just go for it in life, not realizing that she had financial stability a lot of people lack. Her parents sucked, but they had money. She moved back with them when Jeffrey was deployed, and she demonstrates again and again that she never had to worry about / consider money. She bought expensive things without thinking it through (properties, businesses), because she had a parachute. If she had failed, her life wouldn't have been completely ruined. She "jokes" about poverty while Jeffrey is working at fucking Lehman Brothers, and recommends conferring with your financial professionals as if everyone has those on retainer. Her beta readers should have warned her. Then again, her beta readers were probably, like, Jennifer Garner, so she didn't see how rose tinted some of these passages read.
All-in-all, this is another celebrity memoir that is fun without weight.
October 24, 2024
5 ⭐ INA STANS - THIS ONE'S FOR US
“For me, cooking wasn't the goal of entertaining; being with friends was the goal, so I wanted to make easy recipes that anyone could prepare and know their guests would be delighted.”
• It made me feel nostalgic, comforted and HUNGRY
• Filled with tales of summers in the Hamptons, Ina's adorable laughter, a story I wasn't expecting, a vulnerable look into a loving marriage (& Ina at the 1989 Tour?!) (& JEFFREY)
• It made me want to book a trip to Paris, find a local cheese monger, invite a bunch of friends over for a casual but delicious dinner, look up old photos of Ina at the original Barefoot Contessa store
• Search "Paris coffee shop" on YouTube for the perfectly paired reading vibe
• Listen to Unforgettable by Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole after finishing the last page
• If this book was a food/drink, it would be Ina's famous brownies, her famous "engagement chicken" or my favorite recipe of hers, a summer tomato gazpacho
Good for book club - yes! Especially if your book club is filled with foodies
Good as a gift - YES, for any of your food loving besties!
Should I get the physical copy - I personally recommend the audio since Ina narrates it
What season should I read it in - any season!
Audiobook narration - 5/5, Ina's chuckles throughout warmed my heart big time, and every time she says "isn't that fabulous"
“For me, cooking wasn't the goal of entertaining; being with friends was the goal, so I wanted to make easy recipes that anyone could prepare and know their guests would be delighted.”
• It made me feel nostalgic, comforted and HUNGRY
• Filled with tales of summers in the Hamptons, Ina's adorable laughter, a story I wasn't expecting, a vulnerable look into a loving marriage (& Ina at the 1989 Tour?!) (& JEFFREY)
• It made me want to book a trip to Paris, find a local cheese monger, invite a bunch of friends over for a casual but delicious dinner, look up old photos of Ina at the original Barefoot Contessa store
• Search "Paris coffee shop" on YouTube for the perfectly paired reading vibe
• Listen to Unforgettable by Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole after finishing the last page
• If this book was a food/drink, it would be Ina's famous brownies, her famous "engagement chicken" or my favorite recipe of hers, a summer tomato gazpacho
Good for book club - yes! Especially if your book club is filled with foodies
Good as a gift - YES, for any of your food loving besties!
Should I get the physical copy - I personally recommend the audio since Ina narrates it
What season should I read it in - any season!
Audiobook narration - 5/5, Ina's chuckles throughout warmed my heart big time, and every time she says "isn't that fabulous"
October 2, 2024
ate this up (lol)
did not consider myself a contessa diehard prior to this but i will ride at dawn for her now. i love my parasocial grandmother
really fascinating to hear her reflect back on the beginnings of her relationship and career in the 50s/60s and her reverence for the feminist movement of that time and how she was trying to live out those ideals in her own way in her own life.
liked that it was a full story, told chronologically. listened to the audiobook which she narrated so it really felt like you were just sitting down with her and listening to her life story. she does a good job of pulling back and summarizing the lessons from each anecdote. i also appreciated the acknowledgements she gave throughout the book to friends and acquaintances who inspired a lot of the style we now attribute to her.
did not consider myself a contessa diehard prior to this but i will ride at dawn for her now. i love my parasocial grandmother
really fascinating to hear her reflect back on the beginnings of her relationship and career in the 50s/60s and her reverence for the feminist movement of that time and how she was trying to live out those ideals in her own way in her own life.
liked that it was a full story, told chronologically. listened to the audiobook which she narrated so it really felt like you were just sitting down with her and listening to her life story. she does a good job of pulling back and summarizing the lessons from each anecdote. i also appreciated the acknowledgements she gave throughout the book to friends and acquaintances who inspired a lot of the style we now attribute to her.
December 10, 2024
TL;DR: basically this year's 'Tom Lake'...an extremely relaxing, low stakes book that is perfect on audiobook. It gets a little self-promotey near the end, but overall i really loved it and could listen to Ina talk all day!
October 9, 2024
Reading Ina Garten's memoir is like sitting down with a beloved aunt and discovering that all the things you thought about her are true, but that she's also lived a fascinating, vibrant life outside of that.
Most fans of Ina know about her leaving her White House job to open a specialty food store, and about her loving relationship with her husband Jeffrey. (If you're a long term devotee, you also know what Jeffrey' favorite dinner is and when it's served.) Here, she gives us a look at her childhood, which provides insight into some of the choices she's made: her abusive father thought little of what a woman could accomplish (it's notable that Jeffrey is the complete opposite of that, that Ina becomes such a driven businesswoman, and that they chose not to have children), her mother was a nutritionist who never served food that tasted good (an obvious lead-in to Ina's passion for flavor as well as providing food as an expression of her care for others).
I have two favorite general parts: the anecdotes that show her strong will and sense of self, as well as the organized, practical steps she took to achieve her goals; and I love the anecdotes about her relationship with her husband. We all know that this staggeringly intelligent, accomplished man is smitten with his wife of almost fifty years, but Ina also demonstrates again and again how supportive he is of her career and her needs. (She calls him the first feminist she's ever known.) The most charming story is the one where she describes how they met: she went to his college, as a 17-year-old, to meet his friend for their date. He saw her through a window and was instantly charmed, particularly by the pleasing ribbon in her hair. Talk about heart-melting!
More fun stuff: she decided she wanted to learn how to fly a plane, so she did. She drops a few swears. She takes a scientific approach to her food. She’s an amazing negotiator and seems like a great boss/collaborator. And she not only talks about the obstacles she faced as a businesswoman, in terms of running a food store or dealing with unscrupulous business partners, but also about her creative and personal challenges, such as testing recipes or overcoming self-doubt.
The less engaging parts for me were deeply entrenched in life in the Hamptons, as well as the overuse of her usual catch phrases. These are the same things that I'm not enamored with on her shows, however, so take that with a grain of salt. I love Ina's food and her endearing persona and her recipes (I'm not exaggerating when I say she's partly responsible for teaching me how to cook), but I just don't find this hyper elite lifestyle as aspirational or as interesting as the Food Network or residents of the Hamptons seem to think I should. I totally get including some of it, as it's so inexorably tied to her brand and identity, but there's just too much. Adjacent to that: my eyes glazed over during the chapter devoted to the many issues related to her purchase of an apartment in Paris, as well as her desire to have it fully decorated as soon as her husband walked in for the first time. It's cute, but also so well out of the sphere most people live in that it chafes a bit. There's no denying that every person, no matter how wealthy, has challenges, but the minutiae of the Paris apartment problems felt pretty privileged. But there's always been something about the way Barefoot Contessa as a brand has portrayed its moneyed lifestyle that has bothered me in a way that Martha Stewart and other personalities/entities don't. The ending chapters also focus a bit too much on reciting the list of guests she’s had on her “Be Our Guest” show, whereas a couple of stories would have done and left time for a stronger finish.
But overall, this was a pleasant audiobook experience and it was enjoyable learning things I didn't know about Ina before. Her warmth and humor have always been on display on her shows and in her books, but this memoir gives me a better appreciation for her determination, can-do attitude, and admirable lack of fear.
And it's a reminder, once again, that women who have home-centered interests can be feminists and women without children make valuable contributions to society, too.
Most fans of Ina know about her leaving her White House job to open a specialty food store, and about her loving relationship with her husband Jeffrey. (If you're a long term devotee, you also know what Jeffrey' favorite dinner is and when it's served.) Here, she gives us a look at her childhood, which provides insight into some of the choices she's made: her abusive father thought little of what a woman could accomplish (it's notable that Jeffrey is the complete opposite of that, that Ina becomes such a driven businesswoman, and that they chose not to have children), her mother was a nutritionist who never served food that tasted good (an obvious lead-in to Ina's passion for flavor as well as providing food as an expression of her care for others).
I have two favorite general parts: the anecdotes that show her strong will and sense of self, as well as the organized, practical steps she took to achieve her goals; and I love the anecdotes about her relationship with her husband. We all know that this staggeringly intelligent, accomplished man is smitten with his wife of almost fifty years, but Ina also demonstrates again and again how supportive he is of her career and her needs. (She calls him the first feminist she's ever known.) The most charming story is the one where she describes how they met: she went to his college, as a 17-year-old, to meet his friend for their date. He saw her through a window and was instantly charmed, particularly by the pleasing ribbon in her hair. Talk about heart-melting!
More fun stuff: she decided she wanted to learn how to fly a plane, so she did. She drops a few swears. She takes a scientific approach to her food. She’s an amazing negotiator and seems like a great boss/collaborator. And she not only talks about the obstacles she faced as a businesswoman, in terms of running a food store or dealing with unscrupulous business partners, but also about her creative and personal challenges, such as testing recipes or overcoming self-doubt.
The less engaging parts for me were deeply entrenched in life in the Hamptons, as well as the overuse of her usual catch phrases. These are the same things that I'm not enamored with on her shows, however, so take that with a grain of salt. I love Ina's food and her endearing persona and her recipes (I'm not exaggerating when I say she's partly responsible for teaching me how to cook), but I just don't find this hyper elite lifestyle as aspirational or as interesting as the Food Network or residents of the Hamptons seem to think I should. I totally get including some of it, as it's so inexorably tied to her brand and identity, but there's just too much. Adjacent to that: my eyes glazed over during the chapter devoted to the many issues related to her purchase of an apartment in Paris, as well as her desire to have it fully decorated as soon as her husband walked in for the first time. It's cute, but also so well out of the sphere most people live in that it chafes a bit. There's no denying that every person, no matter how wealthy, has challenges, but the minutiae of the Paris apartment problems felt pretty privileged. But there's always been something about the way Barefoot Contessa as a brand has portrayed its moneyed lifestyle that has bothered me in a way that Martha Stewart and other personalities/entities don't. The ending chapters also focus a bit too much on reciting the list of guests she’s had on her “Be Our Guest” show, whereas a couple of stories would have done and left time for a stronger finish.
But overall, this was a pleasant audiobook experience and it was enjoyable learning things I didn't know about Ina before. Her warmth and humor have always been on display on her shows and in her books, but this memoir gives me a better appreciation for her determination, can-do attitude, and admirable lack of fear.
And it's a reminder, once again, that women who have home-centered interests can be feminists and women without children make valuable contributions to society, too.
October 11, 2024
I'll rate a memoir when it's by my queen Ina!!! I'm completely addicted to Ina and Jeffery supporting each other with so much love and understanding. When Ina posts Jeffrey on Instagram it moves me to tears. The only way to read this is as an audiobook!!!! Listen to Ina's calming voice!!!
October 11, 2024
I love food memoirs and have read, watched, and cooked SO much Ina Garten. But, (says in extremely quiet, barely audible whisper) …. a lot of this came off pretty insufferable :(
October 9, 2024
(Review of audiobook) I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I found the second half (after she became successful) to be somewhat dull. Lots of name dropping, descriptions of home renovations, and she just seemed out of touch. She kept referring to luck and chance, when so many of her big breaks were due to immense privilege and connections. I also expected her to open up more about her choice to not have children, but I think she addressed it in one sentence. It was light and an easy listen, but it felt pretty surface level. I also couldn’t stand how often she described wild events as “crazy” or “insane.”
October 17, 2024
I love a good celebrity memoir, especially on audiobook and read by the author. This one started off so strong and promising (admittedly, I was only ever vaguely aware of Ina and have never purchased her other cookbooks or watched her show), but it limped through the back half at an agonizing pace.
The entirety of the second half of the memoir could be described as: “I did something hard / impulsive / expensive!” And then “I wasn’t sure if it would work out!!” Followed by “I was kind and brilliant and it worked out and all my famous friends clapped!”
It became a laundry list of rationalizing her decisions and felt incredibly forced and slightly smug. Very….wealthy woman born on third base thinks she hit a home run.
This did give me a lovely view of her cooking and I’m excited to actually try some recipes - just won’t be rereading this any time soon.
The entirety of the second half of the memoir could be described as: “I did something hard / impulsive / expensive!” And then “I wasn’t sure if it would work out!!” Followed by “I was kind and brilliant and it worked out and all my famous friends clapped!”
It became a laundry list of rationalizing her decisions and felt incredibly forced and slightly smug. Very….wealthy woman born on third base thinks she hit a home run.
This did give me a lovely view of her cooking and I’m excited to actually try some recipes - just won’t be rereading this any time soon.
November 26, 2024
Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir was a delightful book by Ina Garten. Ina Garten has published a myriad of cookbooks, many of them in my library and used often over the years with a lot of family favorites. While I had known for years that she was the owner of The Barefoot Contessa, a specialty shop in the Hamptons, I wasn’t aware of the back story. Working in Washington, D.C., Ina Garten saw an advertisement for a “Catering, Gourmet, Foods & Cheese Shoppe” in a top location with unlimited potential. Jeffrey too was employed in Washington, D.C. writing issue papers and speeches for the Secretary of State. But the next weekend they drove to Westhampton to see the shop and meet the owner.
This is a delightful and thoughtful account of Ina Garten’s journey as she brings her past and her process to life in this high-spirited memoir of her decades of personal challenges and adventures and unexpected career twists. Ina Garten has blazed her own trail while teaching millions of us how to cook and entertain. There are also delightful recipes and photographs throughout the book. But at the heart of Ina’s story is the love story of Ina and Jeffrey Garten after more than fifty years together.
“The shop, a white clapboard building on a corner in the center of the village’s Main Street was small—only four hundred square feet. It was so small that the stove didn’t fit in the tiny kitchen in the back and was right there in the store. There was one employee. . . .baking big chocolate chip cookies. . . .my first thought was I need to be here! I didn’t want to write position papers about enriched uranium; I wanted to bake cookies.”
This is a delightful and thoughtful account of Ina Garten’s journey as she brings her past and her process to life in this high-spirited memoir of her decades of personal challenges and adventures and unexpected career twists. Ina Garten has blazed her own trail while teaching millions of us how to cook and entertain. There are also delightful recipes and photographs throughout the book. But at the heart of Ina’s story is the love story of Ina and Jeffrey Garten after more than fifty years together.
October 14, 2024
Dryyyyy but enjoyable.
November 28, 2024
While I wasn’t completely in the dark about who Ina Garten is, and have seen a few episodes of her show over the years, as it turns out I knew next to nothing about the Barefoot Contessa herself. From dealing with psychologically and physically abusive parents to career struggles, her phenomenal success is more the product of hard work than luck (though Lady Luck is also on her side).
Told with humility and humor, the audiobook narrated by Garten herself, was like a warm hug - you didn’t know you needed it and it leaves you feeling happy and comforted long after it’s over. From stories of her handwritten “meet cute” with husband Jeffrey to her days working in government to discovering the ad that would lead to a whole new career, every single chapter is engaging, inspiring and very very entertaining.
This book will easily make my 2024 favorites list and I am so glad I was able to read it during Nonfiction November! And fun fact, I loved it SO much, it ended up giving me a book hangover. I never imagined a memoir had that power, but if anyone can do it, it’s Ina Garten 🍸
What to expect:
▪️a biography of sorts
▪️life lessons
▪️swoony moments 🤍
▪️laugh out loud stories
▪️relatable, easy to connect with writing
▪️a whole heck of a lot of inspiration
▪️foodie talk
▪️tips and tricks
Thank you PRH Audio for the gifted copy.
Told with humility and humor, the audiobook narrated by Garten herself, was like a warm hug - you didn’t know you needed it and it leaves you feeling happy and comforted long after it’s over. From stories of her handwritten “meet cute” with husband Jeffrey to her days working in government to discovering the ad that would lead to a whole new career, every single chapter is engaging, inspiring and very very entertaining.
This book will easily make my 2024 favorites list and I am so glad I was able to read it during Nonfiction November! And fun fact, I loved it SO much, it ended up giving me a book hangover. I never imagined a memoir had that power, but if anyone can do it, it’s Ina Garten 🍸
What to expect:
▪️a biography of sorts
▪️life lessons
▪️swoony moments 🤍
▪️laugh out loud stories
▪️relatable, easy to connect with writing
▪️a whole heck of a lot of inspiration
▪️foodie talk
▪️tips and tricks
Thank you PRH Audio for the gifted copy.
Read
October 28, 2024I was so into this!
October 24, 2024
5 ⭐️A very favorite read of the year!
I so enjoyed learning more about this incredible woman’s life. My obsession with Ina started in grade school when I first discovered Food Network and I never looked back. The fact that I literally can’t get enough Ina Garten definitely contributed to my enjoyment of her memoir, but I think even casual fans and followers will adore it as well.
Ina is such an icon and after reading this I have a newfound appreciation and somehow an even deeper obsession with my sweet barefoot contessa (and Jeffrey!!!! #SWOON). I loved finding out how determined she is, how she trusts herself about when it’s time to walk away from something, and how she really found herself and reevaluated her role in her marriage during the feminist movement of the 60s/70s.
Also, I learned that making career and financial decisions in the 70s/80s was a very different ballgame 😏
Also also, whenever I need a mood boost in the future I will be picturing Ina Garten playing beer pong with famous athletes at a very famous concert.
🎧I cannot recommend the audio enough!! Lots of memoirs feel like you’re sitting down with the author over coffee but Ina’s makes you feel like you’re listening to her story while devouring a warm batch of Outrageous Brownies and there’s really nothing better than that!
I so enjoyed learning more about this incredible woman’s life. My obsession with Ina started in grade school when I first discovered Food Network and I never looked back. The fact that I literally can’t get enough Ina Garten definitely contributed to my enjoyment of her memoir, but I think even casual fans and followers will adore it as well.
Ina is such an icon and after reading this I have a newfound appreciation and somehow an even deeper obsession with my sweet barefoot contessa (and Jeffrey!!!! #SWOON). I loved finding out how determined she is, how she trusts herself about when it’s time to walk away from something, and how she really found herself and reevaluated her role in her marriage during the feminist movement of the 60s/70s.
Also, I learned that making career and financial decisions in the 70s/80s was a very different ballgame 😏
Also also, whenever I need a mood boost in the future I will be picturing Ina Garten playing beer pong with famous athletes at a very famous concert.
🎧I cannot recommend the audio enough!! Lots of memoirs feel like you’re sitting down with the author over coffee but Ina’s makes you feel like you’re listening to her story while devouring a warm batch of Outrageous Brownies and there’s really nothing better than that!
October 11, 2024
I’ve seen every single episode of her various shows and I have an affection for the cheery brightness for her wealthy Hampton’s life. Her life is best left in 20 minute cooking segments. I found the whole thing really depressing. Her glam life in reality is materialistic, vanity driven and ultimately seems really lonely.
October 12, 2024
This book is fine. It just lacks self-awareness. There are a few mentions of being frugal and living on a budget, but they buy everything they want almost as soon as they can, and there’s never any real financial stress. I know that’s the truth of the story, but she never seems to acknowledge all the privilege in her life.
So, dear reader, you too can do whatever you want as long as you have a partner who worships the ground you walk on and lots of money. No shade to Ina, I love her and her recipes everything, but I kind of wish I hadn’t read it and could keep the image in my head I’d had before I started it.
So, dear reader, you too can do whatever you want as long as you have a partner who worships the ground you walk on and lots of money. No shade to Ina, I love her and her recipes everything, but I kind of wish I hadn’t read it and could keep the image in my head I’d had before I started it.
October 9, 2024
I just finished this book. I closed it and said to myself, “Wow. I really enjoyed this.” What a joy this was to dive into and experience!
I love a good memoir related to the world of baking, cooking, and restaurants. I also love hearing stories from people who start out doing one thing, but decide to follow their passions; ultimately ending up doing what they were meant to be doing instead. It’s amazing and inspiring! We only get one life…why spend it miserable and unfulfilled?
Ina Garten describes her difficult childhood, her parents, meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, her career path that eventually got flipped upside down (in a good way!) by the simple reading of a newspaper ad one day. I loved hearing about the lessons she learned, the hurdles she faced, her world travels, her marriage, and her journey to where she is today.
And best of all, let’s face it. I think by the time readers finish this memoir, we all want to marry Jeffrey, am I right? What a beautiful love story. 😍
I love a good memoir related to the world of baking, cooking, and restaurants. I also love hearing stories from people who start out doing one thing, but decide to follow their passions; ultimately ending up doing what they were meant to be doing instead. It’s amazing and inspiring! We only get one life…why spend it miserable and unfulfilled?
Ina Garten describes her difficult childhood, her parents, meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, her career path that eventually got flipped upside down (in a good way!) by the simple reading of a newspaper ad one day. I loved hearing about the lessons she learned, the hurdles she faced, her world travels, her marriage, and her journey to where she is today.
And best of all, let’s face it. I think by the time readers finish this memoir, we all want to marry Jeffrey, am I right? What a beautiful love story. 😍
October 3, 2024
I love Ina and her cooking has been so influential. I started watching her cooking shows my first year in college to combat my homesickness and desire for good food. She taught me how to cook and my passion for food is largely due to her. If I ever get the chance to meet her, I’ll probably cry and make a total fool of myself!
That being said: While I love her cookbooks, I found her memoir a little lacking. Her writing felt a bit like reading a college essay - a little generic at times, the same sayings repeated often for emphasis, and each story tied up with a bow of “what I learned” and how to apply her lessons to your own life.
I also found her advice somewhat disappointing because it failed to account for her massive privilege. She and Jeffrey both came from/had money and had the means to make impulsive decisions like buying a business or several houses. They grew up in a much different time where these things were much more feasible. So again, the advice didn’t feel as applicable or realistic to where we currently are.
That being said, I think her story is still inspiring and very interesting. She clearly knows what she wants and has pursued it, and as a woman, that is something to be admired. Overall, I enjoyed reading it but wish it delved deeper.
That being said: While I love her cookbooks, I found her memoir a little lacking. Her writing felt a bit like reading a college essay - a little generic at times, the same sayings repeated often for emphasis, and each story tied up with a bow of “what I learned” and how to apply her lessons to your own life.
I also found her advice somewhat disappointing because it failed to account for her massive privilege. She and Jeffrey both came from/had money and had the means to make impulsive decisions like buying a business or several houses. They grew up in a much different time where these things were much more feasible. So again, the advice didn’t feel as applicable or realistic to where we currently are.
That being said, I think her story is still inspiring and very interesting. She clearly knows what she wants and has pursued it, and as a woman, that is something to be admired. Overall, I enjoyed reading it but wish it delved deeper.
October 1, 2024
With the caveat that I’m one of many who loved Ina Garten before reading this, the book endeared me more to her and was heartwarming. She just seems to have a genial take on everything even though her parents were less loving than most. Finding her awe-inspiring husband, Jeffrey, helped secure her foundation and the way in which he courted was unique.
Didn’t know Ina and Jeffrey’s parents were so wealthy.
I especially enjoyed the description of American life from decades ago and how she navigated it.
I think there’s a difference between “be ready when the luck happens” and being rich. Putting all your belongings on the side of the street and restarting, getting massages and therapy, driving a convertible, flying first class, building your dream house, much of her essence may be due to luck from her family and husband’s money, ņot necessarily hard work, though she definitely did work hard, too. This is addressed in the epilogue. Incredible that she had no formal training.
Includes a lot of food and esthetic descriptions that made it feel less like a memoir.
Simple, easy language.
Would be cool if she did a show with Stephen Breyer.
Didn’t know Ina and Jeffrey’s parents were so wealthy.
I especially enjoyed the description of American life from decades ago and how she navigated it.
I think there’s a difference between “be ready when the luck happens” and being rich. Putting all your belongings on the side of the street and restarting, getting massages and therapy, driving a convertible, flying first class, building your dream house, much of her essence may be due to luck from her family and husband’s money, ņot necessarily hard work, though she definitely did work hard, too. This is addressed in the epilogue. Incredible that she had no formal training.
Includes a lot of food and esthetic descriptions that made it feel less like a memoir.
Simple, easy language.
Would be cool if she did a show with Stephen Breyer.
November 23, 2024
3-1/2 Stars!
Several years back, I was going through a pretty strong Food Network phase. I basically had it on all the time whether I was watching it or not. (I'm the kind of person who likes background noise.) I became familiar with several of the Food Network TV personalities and Ina Garten's show was one I enjoyed quite a bit. At the time I felt like it was different from the other shows with how relaxed it was. My memories of watching Barefoot Contessa episodes are something like this: We would actually see her go shopping for the ingredients at her local farmer's market and then go back to her kitchen and very casually prepare her meals. Everything was so relaxed and calm. I have a memory of there always being a point in the show where she would say "Jeffrey's coming for dinner..." (or lunch, or what have you) and sure enough, by the time the meal was prepared, Jeffrey would show up and eat the delicious meal Ina had prepared.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens is the perfect title for this book and the reason why is revealed near the end. I loved reading about Ina's journey that led her to the successful career she has now. I was surprised to learn that she had actually left a job at the White House to pursue the path food seemed to be calling to her. I was also surprised that my favorite part of this memoir ended up being Ina and Jeffrey's love story. So genuine.
Several years back, I was going through a pretty strong Food Network phase. I basically had it on all the time whether I was watching it or not. (I'm the kind of person who likes background noise.) I became familiar with several of the Food Network TV personalities and Ina Garten's show was one I enjoyed quite a bit. At the time I felt like it was different from the other shows with how relaxed it was. My memories of watching Barefoot Contessa episodes are something like this: We would actually see her go shopping for the ingredients at her local farmer's market and then go back to her kitchen and very casually prepare her meals. Everything was so relaxed and calm. I have a memory of there always being a point in the show where she would say "Jeffrey's coming for dinner..." (or lunch, or what have you) and sure enough, by the time the meal was prepared, Jeffrey would show up and eat the delicious meal Ina had prepared.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens is the perfect title for this book and the reason why is revealed near the end. I loved reading about Ina's journey that led her to the successful career she has now. I was surprised to learn that she had actually left a job at the White House to pursue the path food seemed to be calling to her. I was also surprised that my favorite part of this memoir ended up being Ina and Jeffrey's love story. So genuine.
October 3, 2024
Cathartic! Encouraging! Inspiring! Her idea of feminism is to do exactly what you want and don’t let anyone shame/guilt/bully you - if she wants to get in the kitchen while other women were getting out of it in the 1960s so be it! And if she’s in there to bake brownies from a boxed mix, so be it! Her straightforward approach to telling her life story is so soothing. Her business savvy is laudable and needs to be spoken about more. She embodies the saving private ryan “earn this” attitude. She presents the best argument for being a swiftie i’ve ever heard.
November 2, 2024
I actually liked Ina more before I read her memoir. My goodness, she is exhausting. The beginning of the book started out strong . But it gets very repetitive, lots of named dropping, lots of I am so amazing. I solved this problem. Look at me. I’m so great. And there is a whole side dish of privilege condescension that is sprinkled throughout the whole book. One thing that stood out to me is when she said someone who worked for her made her a dish from wherever they’re from and it was beans from a can with a cracker, and she said that she promptly went up to her room and threw it away. just seems rather disrespectful. Who would admit that? Obviously, my opinion doesn’t matter. It’s clear that she loves herself and Jeffrey a lot. And if you are one to play drinking games, try taking a shot every time she says the name Jeffrey or says the phrase Jeffrey is such a great sport. My goodness.
I still do like the way she roasts a chicken. So there’s that.
I still do like the way she roasts a chicken. So there’s that.
October 15, 2024
I love Ina Garten’s cooking show and her cookbooks, so rating her memoir a 3 makes me feel traitorous. However, I found it a tad uninteresting and overall, too snooty for my liking. Yes, she had a difficult childhood. However, as an adult her most difficult obstacles seemed to be real estate related or financially removed from the experiences most other people have and it just felt too much. Made a rush financial choice? No worries, some close wall street friend can help you out and it’s all fine in the end. You want to buy an apartment in Paris and it’s a challenge? Well, good thing you can fly back and forth so easily while you shop for a place and know an architect who can redo it for you when it’s not perfect and wait two years for it to be done.
I don’t mean to minimize the work she has done to build her brand and create wonderful recipes for the masses. But when you are born on 3rd base, it’s a hell of a lot easier to achieve.
I don’t mean to minimize the work she has done to build her brand and create wonderful recipes for the masses. But when you are born on 3rd base, it’s a hell of a lot easier to achieve.
October 25, 2024
Love it when a chic bitch gets everything she wants
November 13, 2024
Be Ready When the Luck Happens was an absolute balm to my soul. Ina Garten, the Bob Ross of calm, reassuring presence in the food world, managed to make me like her even more. I expected the confident breeziness we see on her shows, but I didn't anticipate the depth, candor, or the kindred sense of adventure she brings to her story.
From her difficult upbringing to her marriage with Jeffrey and her influential entrepreneurial drive, Garten's memoir is warm, funny, and refreshingly open, as she takes charge of her life's story to tell it the way it deserves to be told.
From her difficult upbringing to her marriage with Jeffrey and her influential entrepreneurial drive, Garten's memoir is warm, funny, and refreshingly open, as she takes charge of her life's story to tell it the way it deserves to be told.
October 11, 2024
This book is heaven on earth. YES - I listened to it. If you have a problem with my logging an audiobook....call the cops.
Ina's voice is so deeply comforting and her stories are so HER and so FUN and had me shopping for table linens online while listening. Lucky to have grown up watching her. It tickled me that she addresses the infamous bathtub scene which my mom was horrified by when we watched many years ago. She's been meme'd to all hell in the past 5-10 years, but this was a reminder that she's deserving of all the praise and adoration.
Ina's voice is so deeply comforting and her stories are so HER and so FUN and had me shopping for table linens online while listening. Lucky to have grown up watching her. It tickled me that she addresses the infamous bathtub scene which my mom was horrified by when we watched many years ago. She's been meme'd to all hell in the past 5-10 years, but this was a reminder that she's deserving of all the praise and adoration.
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