Be Ready When the Luck Happens

by Ina Garten ★★★★☆

Perhaps the buzziest memoir of the year, in terms of the amount of attention it's getting and number of best-of lists it's starting to land on, Be Ready When the Luck Happens allows Ina Garten to pull back the curtain on her pathway to a successful life in the world of food. Best known for her Barefoot Contessa line of cookbooks and television shows, Garten chronicles everything from growing up in the 1950s and 1960s to eventually stumbling into the world of specialty food and cooking, and she provides readers an inside look at how she ended up where she is today.

For starters, Garten might be the most spontaneous person on the planet. While she has had a love of cooking for most of her adult life, she never went to culinary school or had any grand ambitions of working in the world of food. Although she is synonymous with the moniker "Barefoot Contessa", she inherited that name. It was originally a specialty food shop in Westhampton Beach, New York; Garten stumbled upon a classified ad listing the shop for sale in 1978, and after a quick trip to see it, she purchased the store while living in Washington, D.C. Oh, and did I mention she had no experience in retail?

Garten balances her spontaneity with a fierce determination and will that is, in my opinion, the driving force behind her success. Over the course of her career, whether with the original retail shop or any of its later incarnations, her books, or her television shows, that depth of personal conviction in her vision and the motor to bring it to life has been her steady fuel for success. It's a fascinating study for anyone who looked at a task and thought it was impossible, and Garten is a living example of the phrase "you can do anything if you put your mind to it". Given that determination and a "why can't I do that?" approach to life, Ina consistently found herself pushing boundaries. In particular, she's a shining beacon for women's independence, not as an outspoken advocate, per se, but as a role model through a lifetime of actions that consistently fell outside the bounds of what was expected and typical of women at the time she was pursuing her passions.

The inside look at Ina's relationship with her husband Jeffrey, who she's known for over 60 years, was an enjoyable undercurrent of the memoir and a fascinating portrait of an unconventional relationship. They have spent significant portions of their marriage living apart from each other due to professional commitments, but the love and connection has persevered, and it works for them. Jeffrey's progressive mindset and extreme patience are exactly what Ina needed to evolve into the person she is, both professionally and beyond. While a 60-year relationship inevitably has ups and downs, the memoir doubles as an understated love letter to Ina's partner throughout her rollercoaster life.

You don't have to be a fan of Ina Garten or even familiar with her cookbooks or shows to find enjoyment in this memoir. Hers is an unusual and non-traditional path through life, both personally and professionally, and it's an open look at her frame of mind as she navigated that path.