A devoted wife, two bright children, a gorgeous home in a nice Connecticut suburb, an ample income as a successful lawyer: By all accounts, Cameron Stracher is living the American dream. Problem is, thanks to a crazy work schedule, he’s never home to enjoy it. So Cameron makes a bold decision: For the next year he’ll be home by six o’clock at least five days a week to sit down to a real family dinner–and he’ll even help cook that dinner himself. But as this daring adventure gets under way, it becomes clear that the road to culinary togetherness is no cakewalk. Only the author’s faith in another American dream–family closeness at the dinner table–keeps him moving, as he shops, chops, and cooks his way to fulfillment.
Fired with love and humor, wit and heart, and peppered with engaging social and cultural history, Dinner with Dad is a four-star, five-course celebration of family life. Millions of overextended parents will relate to and relish Cameron’s journey as he discovers what truly matters most.
Praise for Dinner with Dad:
“Stracher writes with humor and honesty about the pitfalls and triumphs of trying to have your family and eat with them too.” –Julie Powell, author of Julie & Julia
“A delightful account of what happened when Cameron Stracher made it his goal to get home in time for dinner five times a week over the course of ten months . . . The payoff for Mr. Stracher is undeniable.” –The Wall Street Journal
“Busy fathers everywhere will immediately identify with this book, and hopefully will heed its message. Well done, Cameron–someone needed to write this book. Now dads everywhere need to read it.” –Mike Greenberg, author of Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot
“An ultimately hopeful, joyful picture of what contemporary family life can be.” –Booklist
Cameron Stracher was born and raised in Roslyn, Long Island. At a young age, he wanted to be a writer, and had his first play produced while an undergraduate at Amherst College. After college, he retreated to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he tried write the Great American Novel. Failing miserably, he enrolled at Harvard Law School, where he still managed to take a writing workshop from Mary Robison at Harvard College. He returned to Woods Hole after earning his J.D. degree, and was the only waiter at the Coonamessett Inn who was also admitted to the New York State bar. Finally, succumbing to parental and financial pressure, he got a real job at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., where he lasted for one year before fleeing for the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.
He spent four years in Iowa City, studying under Frank Conroy, James Salter, Marilynne Robinson, Meg Wolitzer, and Deborah Eisenberg. More important, he met his wife, Christine Pakkala, a poet, while she was serving cheese samples at the food co-op. After Christine graduated, the couple moved to New York City where Cameron practiced law at Friedman & Kaplan, and then became in-house counsel at CBS, handling libel, privacy, copyright and other claims for the network. One of the highlights of his career during those years was getting Dan Rather out of jury duty.
Cameron won a fiction fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 1994, and his first novel, The Laws of Return, was published by William Morrow in 1996. His non-fiction account of his life as a law firm associate, Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale of Greed, Sex, Lies, and a Swivel Chair, was also published by Morrow in 1998. He left CBS in 1999 and joined the media law firm Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, where he became partner and helped open the New York office. In 2001, he began teaching at New York Law School, and eventually became the Publisher of the Law Review and the Co-Director of the school's new Program in Law & Journalism. His second book of non-fiction, Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table, was published by Random House in 2007. This summer Cameron left New York Law School to spend more time writing and with his family.
At present, he is Of Counsel to Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, and has his own private practice where he counsels media clients like Hybrid Films, producer of the hit TV series Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Al Roker Entertainment, on newsgathering and publishing risks. He also handles all pre-publication review for Star magazine and all litigation for other American Media publications.
In addition to his books, Cameron has written for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The American Lawyer (where he is a contributing editor), and many other publications. He is an avid runner, and is currently working on a book about the running boom and the 1970s for Random House, as well as on a comic novel in progress, The Socratic Method, based on his years teaching law. You can read The Socratic Method in progress at www.rateyourlawprofessor.com. He lives in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife and two children, Simon and Lulu, for whom he wrote his YA debut novel, The Water Wars.
Workaholic attorney Cameron Stracher braves a mega-commute in the New York area to only wonder, "Is that all there is?" Determined to better his life and reconnect with his two kids and wife, he resolves to dial back his work devotion to fixing dinner for his family.
He finds this is almost as much of a challenge as practicing law. This first-person memoir is touching and absorbing as Stracher details the emotional and financial tradeoffs that bedevil us as we strive to find more balance in our lives.
A very good read!!!!
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Cameron Stracher's "Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table" chronicled the author's attempt and journey to be a good dad by having dinner with his two kids. Cameron lives in Westport, Connecticut but works as a law professor in New York City and he typically spends two hours travelling to work each way everyday. In addition, he also works as legal counsel for an organization out in Kansas City. Needless to say, he hardly shares a meal with his family at dinnertime. One night, he made a decision to be at home for dinner during his kids's new school year and he would even cook at least half the time. This decision proved to be a lot harder especially since he had to leave work early and at the same time get his work done. Cooking at home proved to be even more of a challenge especially since his kids refused to eat most of what he cooked and they had developed weird eating habits. It became a personal challenge to Cameron to make sure his kids share his love for diverse and ethnic food.
This was a great read for me as it was fun and witty and the writing was very conversational. The author provided valuable insights into family life and how the simple of act of eating dinner with family made a difference. Many would be able to identify with Cameron's situation and how the pursue of wealth had replaced the importance of spending quality time with one's family. Highly recommended!
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When I first heard of this book,the concept was not all that unusual.It was something I was familiar with, raising kids,putting together meals,what I did not expect was the candid honesty and humor that made this book a great read.It should be required reading for those of us who try to balance work and family and end up with less of each
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