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A Memoir
by Ina Garten
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.
What are you reading this week? (3/6/2025)
I just finished Ina Garten's "Be Ready When Luck Happens". I knew very little about the Barefoot Contessa prior to the book. It was an easy read, most of which I enjoyed while on a plane in audiobook format, narrated by Ina herself. Also reading (and listening too) "Birding to Change the World" b...
-Gabi_J
What book or books are you reading this week? (01/16/2025)
Hi I am currently reading three books. Infused by Henrietta Lovell a memoir/travelogue from a tea aficionado Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten —on audio read by the author The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year–light mystery leftover from December intentions
-Barbara_B1
What are some books you loved reading in 2024?
...Emily Henry Funny Story by Emily Henry After I do by Taylor Jenkins Reid The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
-Debbie_M
What are you reading this week? (12-05-2024)
I finished two books this week for January book club discussions: Ina Garten's memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens and Colm Toibin's Long Island . A friend lent me a copy of Kate Quinn's The Briar Club , so I should start that next.
-Diane_Jones
"Though a good deal of luck often came through for her along the way, Garten's lively memoir emphasizes how hard work and unrelenting tenacity were what made the magic happen. An entertaining foray into this well-loved cooking host's illustrious life." —Kirkus Reviews
"A freewheeling handbook for life ... Be Ready When the Luck Happens is a romp, filled with adventure and serendipity, a magic act that makes the hard stuff of life seem like both education and play." —The Washington Post
"Simplicity is at the core of [Ina Garten's] appeal ... her approachability, charisma and close connection to the sensibilities of the home cook have given her a devoted following." —The Wall Street Journal
"Be Ready When the Luck Happens is a wildly entertaining and compulsively readable story about curiosity and courage, challenges and coconut cupcakes. It's also a love story for the ages. Smart and funny, warm and engaging, Ina Garten proves just how lucky a person can be if she's willing to work hard, get over her past, and be fully and fearlessly engaged with life." —Ann Patchett, author of Tom Lake
This information about Be Ready When the Luck Happens was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ina Garten is a New York Times bestselling author, the host of Be My Guest and Barefoot Contessa on Food Network and Max, for which she has won five Emmy Awards and a James Beard Award. She lives in East Hampton, New York, with her husband, Jeffrey.
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