It was no surprise to me that I loved this memoir. I’ve been reading a lot of memoirs lately (more reviews coming), but Ina Garten is someone I can really identify with for many reasons I will mention in my review below. Here is my book review Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten.

Kindred Spirit

It’s not hard to like Ina Garten. She is lovely on camera and exudes a fun personality. I feel a kindred spirit with her as a “foodie” (a term I learned was coined by Gael Greene of New York Magazine in 1980), as a self-taught cook, as a writer and as someone who is married to her first love. Her get-it-done personality, vision and drive are all things I identify with. But there are also differences, things she reveled about her personal life that make this story both surprising and inspirational.

We’re All Living in Cages with the Door Wide Open

Ina credits George Lucas with the quote “We’re all living in cages with the door wide open” and boy did I identify with that. Like Ina, my AHA! moment came late in my career, when I realized how caged I felt. She says “I realized I had the power and the responsibility to set myself free.”

I felt that. Because people ask me often about how we launched our travel life, about how I walked away from a career and about reinventing myself. In hindsight – I walked through the wide open door.

Food and a Whole Lot More

Yes this book is about food. It’s about the love of cooking, running a very successful food shop called the Barefoot Contessa (no longer operating). It’s about cookbooks (she has many) and television cooking shows. But Be Ready When the Luck Happens is more about recognizing opportunities, giving up things to gain other things, knowing what your good at (despite a childhood of repression of any creativity) and building a life with a partner who is your best friend.

How Great is That

Ina’s signature How Great is… imbues her sense of fun and discovery and wisdom in a life that isn’t perfect, but hard work and creativity can make it pretty close.

*****Five stars for Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten. Inspirational and few recipes tossed in too!

Thanks for reading my book review Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten. See last week’s book review Unearthed by Chanchal Garg.

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