I wanted to share a book I finished reading this week. Table For 51 Lessons Learned From Sharing Meals Across America by Shari Leid Forward by Mia Brabham Nolan I received a copy of in exchange for this review. Inside this post is my affiliate links. If you click on the links and make a purchase I will make a small percentage from the products you purchase.
Easter Sunday I was by myself and the house was quite Charlie was sleeping. David was working. I grabbed my favorite drink, my blanket and Table For 51 Lessons Learned From Sharing Meals Across America.
I went outside on the back porch and was just going to browse through the book. The next think I knew a hour had passed and I was half-way through the book. I checked on Charlie and went back to the porch which I didn’t leave until I finished the story.
I loved being able to visit new Cities and new restaurants while sharing a meal with a stranger at times but at other times people from the Authors past which allowed me to get to know her better. Not having the money to travel having this book I was allowed to travel and more than once I felt like I was with the Author on her journey.
It was hard to hear the Author had been abandoned in a cardboard box as a baby in Seoul, South Korea but Thank the LORD she was adopted by Japanese American parents. She traveled across America to challenge her father’s fears of being unwelcome because of there Asian faces.
For my family this was a learning lesson as I was able to share with Charlie different nationalities. Through her travels she was able to end her twenty-six year marriage. I love how there is 51 stories in the book that can be read all at once or a story or two a day with your family.
I’ve always wanted to visit Hawaii and through the book we were taken to Honolulu, Hawaii. As well as Nevada where a friend of mine lives I would have been able to visit. She was also in Austin, Texas which is a road trip for my family if the Author comes back here.
The Author also stopped in Nashville, Tennessee another place I would like to visit. Would you want to come with me? New York City where Suzzane went and I would like to take Charlie to one day. I like how some of the places she visited was Coffee Shops which I’m sure David and Charlie would enjoy visiting.
About the book:
As seen on PEOPLE.COM, US WEEKLY, NATIONAL ENQUIRER, POPSUGAR, BUSTLE, and MORE!
A Journey of Resilience, Reinvention, and Belonging—One Meal, One Story, One Connection at a Time.
Author Shari Leid—abandoned in a cardboard box with no identifying information in Seoul, South Korea, and adopted by Japanese American parents—embarks on a remarkable journey across the U.S. to challenge her father’s fears of being unwelcome because of their Asian faces.
In Table for 51, Shari meets strangers and reconnects with people from her own past, sharing a meal in every State. From bustling City Cafés to peaceful Countryside tables, each encounter reveals the power of human connection.
Through these fifty heartfelt conversations, Shari discovers the magic of belonging and the courage to embrace change, ultimately ending her turbulent twenty-six-year marriage.
Meet the Author: Shari Leid
Shari Leid received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Washington in 1992. A former litigator, having graduated from Seattle University School of Law in 1995, she is a national keynote speaker and when not speaking or writing, she coaches individuals who are ready to reinvent their life, creating a life that feels more authentic and in flow!
Renowned as a friendship expert and national speaker, She’s been interviewed on major networks including ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CTV, and was profiled on NBC’s TODAY show in April 2023. She’s written for and shared her expertise with
People, HuffPost, Real Simple, PureWow, AARP, TIME, Woman’s World, Toronto Sun, and Shondaland.
She is the founder of the Flip The Box movement, and a selected speaker at TEDxEustis February 2025.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
