From the publisher:
#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.
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.“[Ina Garten] has created an inviting and relaxing world that’s the equivalent of one of her cocktail recipes. To use a Barefoot Contessa catchphrase, How great is that?”—The New York Times
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“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
“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
I’m a long time Ina Garten fan, so I was delighted to hear she was working on a memoir. While it took a few years, it was ultimately worth the wait. I chose to listen to the audiobook, and I’m very glad I did. Read by the author herself, it lends an intimacy to the reading experience and I highly recommend reading it that way.
By now the media around this book has been extensive. We’ve learned about her difficult childhood, her abusive father, and her mother, who cooked tasteless, healthy food and kept Ina out of the kitchen. We’ve heard about Jeffrey and Ina’s separation, their equal partnership marriage, and why they never had children. But most importantly, we learned how Ina became the success that she is.
It’s a good listen, especially if you’re a fan. I have a few quibbles – her constant refrain of how poor she and Jeffrey were did not come across as especially truthful. Jeffrey went to one of the best prep schools in the country (not cheap) and to Princeton (also not cheap.) Ina’s father was a surgeon who made a good living. No matter what Ina and Jeffrey wanted to do, they always had family money to count on. A healthy chunk of the book is about the real estate she bought and renovated, again not something a couple with no money could afford to do. We go from her cries of poverty to Jeffrey working for Lehman Brothers in Japan and insisting on first-class airfare for both of them to travel back and forth every other week. Her weekly jaunts to Paris to find an apartment. The Hamptons homes. A lot of this book is about how the rich (Ina & Jeffrey) spend their time and money, and all the celebrities she pals around with. While I didn’t find it inspirational, it is aspirational.
A good deal of the book concerns her business and career; after all, that is how we know her! From purchasing The Barefoot Contessa store in Westhampton, to growing the business and moving it to East Hampton (don’t ask me why the former is one word and the latter is two, it just is) while buying real estate, renovating houses, building new houses, moving to a larger store and renovating it, to finally selling the business. Then she did nothing for a year until she started writing her first cookbook. She had definite ideas about what she wanted it to look like and how it should be laid out, and she found a champion at her publisher who eventually let her do what she wanted. She had a team helping her, something very few (if any) unpublished cookbook writers get – she paid for it herself. A lot of her “luck” was actually hard work, making smart choices, having the financial support to take chances, and being fearless, which is never easy. The book was a bestseller and really changed the cookbook industry.
Ina did not want a career in television, but she was writing a column for Martha Stewart’s magazine, and eventually, Martha wore her down. She filmed a short season, hated it, and swore off TV. Then a friend turned her on to Nigella Lawson, and she really loved that show. When her production company came calling, she finally gave in and The Barefoot Contessa became a hit on the Food Network. She especially loves her new show, where she cooks with her celebrity friends.
What I found most interesting was when she talked about her relationship with Jeffrey. They were so young when they met, but they both fell pretty fast. She talks about how Jeffrey helped her to grow up, and how their partnership works. While they were officially separated for about a year, they have spent a great deal of their marriage living apart. Jeffrey has had jobs in other countries, in New York City, Washington DC, Connecticut, and various other places while Ina bought the Barefoot Contessa and lived out in the Hamptons for many years. They saw each other on weekends and when they had time off from work. Fans of the show revere what appears to be a perfect marriage, and it definitely works for them.
Aside from her difficult childhood, Ina has lived a charmed life, at least according to this memoir. Any fan of the Barefoot Contessa will undoubtedly enjoy this book, and I especially recommend the audio version.
10/2024 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
BE READY WHEN THE LUCK HAPPENS by Ina Garten. Crown (October 1, 2024). ISBN: 978-0593799895. 320p.
Posted by Stacy Alesi 
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 