From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story

Description

Eleven years ago, Ron and Jill, then his girlfriend of six months, discovered the house of their dreams: a landmark Victorian row house that had belonged to a notorious fraternity in Baltimore. Unfortunately, it was now a condemned, abandoned property. But Jill wanted the house and Ron wanted Jill. Beyond the wall-to-wall graffiti, collapsed fireplaces and banisters, and three dumpsters worth of trash, the couple envisioned this as their future dream home. So Ron bought the 4,500-square-foot ruin, despite the fact that neither Ron nor Jill knew anything about home renovation, and that the project might ruin them both financially and emotionally. A book for lovers, dreamers, and do-it-yourselfers, From Animal House to Our House recounts Ron and Jill's decade-long adventure in house restoration, offering inspiration, insight, and hilarity as they hammer away at the American dream of home ownership and true love.

Ron Tanner is currently the director of engineering for Novell's Management Products Group. He has been the lead engineering manager for the ZENworks Project since its inception.

"Armed with a tight deadline and a small budget and without mechanical expertise or clear plan, Tanner and his new girlfriend undertook a renovation project that would frighten away most contractors. The nuts and bolts of the project are detailed lovingly here--in words and hand-drawn illustrations--as well as the pair's evolution from dating renovators into married homeowners." --Therese Nielsen, "Library Journal" FROM ANIMAL HOUSE TO OUR HOUSE: A LOVE STORY, will sweep you off your feet the way traditional love stories do, but with one difference: you'll also fall in love with the house. In this truly compelling story, love and a nail gun conquer everything.- Jessica Anya Blau, author of "Drinking Closer to Home" and "The Summer of Naked Swim Parties" I fell for the house, I fell for the girl (and, predictably, her dowager of a basset hound), but most of all, I fell for Ron Tanner, one very fine storyteller. I'm still a bit stunned that I could become so entranced by a tale involving rehab nerds, real-estate shysters, frat-house vandals, Dumpsters, rats, and a whole lot of tools, but I'm enough of a writer to know this: when someone of great heart meets the most deeply personal challenge of a lifetime -- especially when it seems strange or insane to just about everyone else -- that's the place where the best and most moving stories begin. For Ron Tanner, it began with a woman wrapping glasses in an antique shop . . . and a small sign in a Baltimore window. How little he knew of what was to come, and how glad you'll be that he never backed down.- Julia Glass, author of "Three Junes" and "The Widower's Tale" I might seem the worst possible person to comment on Ron Tanner's memoir as I am totally uninterested in old houses and home renovation. Actually, this makes me the perfect person. Can you imagine how good a book it would have to be for me to like it? For me, the introspection, the humor, the incredible wisdom about bugs, the love story and the charming illustrations had to carry the book. They certainly do. Tanner is a master of small, sharp, hilarious insights, such as "There was no middle ground for mom. Either our lives were pitiful or miraculous." I love that.- Marion Winik, author of "Glen Rock Book of the Dead" In addition to being a love story, a how-to guide, an urban adventure, and even a coming-of-age memoir, From Animal House to Our House" is a classic American tale, a portrait of an artist compelled to replace destruction with dignity, to consecrate the past, and to create - via hope and sweat - a life of beauty and meaning. It's rare for a book to appeal to poets and plumbers, but Ron Tanner's experiences are intensely human; this book is for anyone who's ever been seduced by a dream and yearned for the deepest sort of restoration.- Lia Purpura, author of "On Looking" and "Rough Likeness" Ron Tanner's life is a testament to the power of hard work, a big heart, blind romance, and even outright idiocy. What does he have to show for it? Only a beautiful house, a loving marriage, and now this inspiration of a book. Pass me my hammer!- Chris Jones, writer-at-large for "Esquire" When I was a few pages into From Animal House to Our House, " I wanted to shout, "Go back! Go back!" But Tanner and his girlfriend persisted with their daunting home-renovation project, and ended up with (spoiler alert) a beautiful house, a marriage that survived beyond the last page, and an excellent book. And the man is a talented illustrator as well: he draws a mean perforated PVC drainpipe. This is the perfect read for anyone who has ever wandered the aisles at Home Depot in a blissful daze.- David Owen, staff writer for "The New Yorker, " author of "Green Metropolis" FROM ANIMAL HOUSE TO OUR HOUSE: A LOVE STORY, will sweep you off your feet the way traditional love stories do, but with one difference: you'll also fall in love with the house. In this truly compelling story, love and a nail gun conquer everything.- Jessica Anya Blau, author of "Drinking Closer to Home" and "The Summer of Naked Swim Parties" I fell for the house, I fell for the girl (and, predictably, her dowager of a basset hound), but most of all, I fell for Ron Tanner, one very fine storyteller. I'm still a bit stunned that I could become so entranced by a tale involving rehab nerds, real-estate shysters, frat-house vandals, Dumpsters, rats, and a whole lot of tools, but I'm enough of a writer to know this: when someone of great heart meets the most deeply personal challenge of a lifetime -- especially when it seems strange or insane to just about everyone else -- that's the place where the best and most moving stories begin. For Ron Tanner, it began with a woman wrapping glasses in an antique shop . . . and a small sign in a Baltimore window. How little he knew of what was to come, and how glad you'll be that he never backed down.- Julia Glass, author of "Three Junes" and "The Widower's Tale" I might seem the worst possible person to comment on Ron Tanner's memoir as I am totally uninterested in old houses and home renovation. Actually, this makes me the perfect person. Can you imagine how good a book it would have to be for me to like it? For me, the introspection, the humor, the incredible wisdom about bugs, the love story and the charming illustrations had to carry the book. They certainly do. Tanner is a master of small, sharp, hilarious insights, such as "There was no middle ground for mom. Either our lives were pitiful or miraculous." I love that.- Marion Winik, author of "Glen Rock Book of the Dead" In addition to being a love story, a how-to guide, an urban adventure, and even a coming-of-age memoir, "From Animal House to Our House" is a classic American tale, a portrait of an artist compelled to replace destruction with dignity, to consecrate the past, and to create - via hope and sweat - a life of beauty and meaning. It's rare for a book to appeal to poets and plumbers, but Ron Tanner's experiences are intensely human; this book is for anyone who's ever been seduced by a dream and yearned for the deepest sort of restoration.- Lia Purpura, author of "On Looking" and "Rough Likeness" Ron Tanner's life is a testament to the power of hard work, a big heart, blind romance, and even outright idiocy. What does he have to show for it? Only a beautiful house, a loving marriage, and now this inspiration of a book. Pass me my hammer!- Chris Jones, writer-at-large for "Esquire" When I was a few pages into "From Animal House to Our House, " I wanted to shout, "Go back! Go back!" But Tanner and his girlfriend persisted with their daunting home-renovation project, and ended up with (spoiler alert) a beautiful house, a marriage that survived beyond the last page, and an excellent book. And the man is a talented illustrator as well: he draws a mean perforated PVC drainpipe. This is the perfect read for anyone who has ever wandered the aisles at Home Depot in a blissful daze.- David Owen, staff writer for "The New Yorker, " author of "Green Metropolis"