Richard Karn with George Mair
Book of the week
There is enough anxiety spawned by typical renovations to give home owners a case of shingles. And the bigger the budget, the bigger the chance that something will go wrong. That's the lesson from Richard Karn (better known by his nom de tool Al Borland on the TV sitcom Home Improvement) as he describes his struggle to control the real-life remodeling of his Hollywood hacienda, which began as a simple kitchen makeover but morphed into a budget-busting demolition of the entire place. In this memoir and how-to guide, Karn chats about his life, takes home owners through the five stages of domestic renovation ("Dreams, Hope, Frustration, Poverty, and Thank God It's Done"), and along the way reviews some of the more amusing building blunders in history (the library at Indiana University, for instance, is sinking because its designers forgot to factor in the weight of all those books). He may not be as funny as his popular TV alter ego, but there's plenty here to keep even apartment renters glued to the page. (HarperEntertainment, $23)
Bottom Line: Nicely constructed tale of home improvement woes
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