Life’s A Banquet

by Robin Bennett

As you know, I strive to Stay Golden. Focus on the positive, have fun, faith, friends, do your best and don’t worry. And so I am happy to welcome Author Robin Bennett as he shares his Golden life for us in his witty and entertaining memoir. Life is indeed a banquet, so let’s meet at the table with Mr. Bennett and enjoy his reflections. Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for a digital review copy and the opportunity to share this book and author with you!

If life gives you lemons, add gin

Life’s a Banquet is the unofficial but essential ‘guide book’ to negotiating your way through life – through education, family life and business, to relationships, marriage, failure and rejection.

Aged 21, Robin Bennett was set to become a cavalry officer and aged 21 and a half, he found himself working as an assistant grave digger in South London – wondering where it had all gone wrong.

Determined to succeed, he went on and founded The Bennett Group, aged 23, and since then has gone on to start and run over a dozen successful businesses in a variety of areas from dog-sitting to cigars, translation to home tuition. In 2003, Robin was recognised in Who’s Who as one of the UK’s most successful business initiators. Catapulting readers through his colourful life and career, Robin Bennett’s memoir is an inspiring tale.

JENA’S REVIEW

Life’s a Banquet by Robin Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author Robin Bennett’s memoir bases its title on a popular quote from a well-loved movie. Auntie Mame: “Yes! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!” As Mr. Bennett shows us in his engaging riches to rags to riches story, he has fully partaken in the banquet of life. Good for him and lucky for us that we can learn and laugh from his witty and positive reflections.

Now about age 50, Author Bennett looks back at his life through the frame of how he became successful, in business, and his personal life. He begins his story with a prologue that features a list of helpful Life Tips. Here are a few that resonated with me:
“Always do what needs to be done immediately.” (And its corollary, Never miss an opportunity to go to the loo.)
“Polite and kind always beats clever.”
“There are twenty-four hours in a day: sleep for eight, work for eight and play for eight.”

The author tells us about his growing up years with his loving, but somewhat unusual family. As an American, I know that most American readers will savor his stories of life at British boarding school and university. Although he planned to join the Calvary, he decides not to take this path, and instead has to build an adult life from scratch. At times, things were going badly and then they were going very well. And this pattern continued for him, as it does through life.

Mr. Bennet sums it all up in his modest and amiable way: he was good at making money, starting new businesses, communicating with his “fellow human beings” and being happy. For all the laughs and chuckles in this book, there are moments of sadness, and worry, too. Writing truly feeds Mr. Bennett’s soul and adds to his pleasure, and now he has added to our pleasure by sharing his life with us.

Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and the author for a review copy. This is my honest review.

View all my reviews

 Robin Bennett lives in Henley on Thames, Oxon. He is an author and entrepreneur who has written several books for children and books on the swashbuckling world of business. His documentary,Fantastic Britain, about the British obsession with magic and folklore, won best foreign feature at the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards. 

Robin says, “When the world seems to be precarious and cruel, remember that the game is to never give up – there’s everything to play for, and it will all be OK.”

Looking for more books to read? Please visit my Book Promotions page and explore all the latest releases. Extracts, blurbs, reviews, author info, books links- all waiting for you!