Things to Bring, S#!t to Do: A Life in Lists Book

Karen Rizzo was invited to a baby shower -- a new-agey baby shower to which guests were asked to bring not gifts, but words of wisdom from parenting through the ages. Though she racked her brain, what she came back to again and again was nothing more than a list of very basic recommendations. And then a list of what to buy. And then a list what not to buy. And then another list, and another. And from this exercise, the realized that women -- today, ages ago, and tomorrow -- tend to think in list. We compile lists of what to buy, where to go, who to see, and what we like. We compile lists of lists. And we use these lists to guide our lives.

Thus began a project through which Rizzo began to compile some of the lists that have guided her own life. Her earliest list is from 1972, when she was a small child, and the list is both basic and revolutionary, as it provides insight into her child-mind. Later lists are from her teen years, and her early 20s. Through these lists, we see snapshots of moments in time: the young loss of a parent, the earliest consciousness of AIDS, and cleaning up the messes of one's successes and failures. As she ages, the lists change: she is preparing to move in with a boyfriend, she is preparing for a wedding, she is preparing for a child, she is preparing to move, she is preparing for a second child. This is the story of her life, told through the lists she uses to keep herself organized.

What is beautiful about this book is that her lists, her story, are not so different from yours or mine. She struggles with many of the same ups and downs, wins and losses, and moments of complete panic as the rest of us. Aside from the delivery, the story itself isn't all that remarkable -- but narrating through lists adds an insider's perspective, almost like looking at the gears that run the clock. These lists are deeply personal, written in shorthand unique to Rizzo's experiences. Though they were never intended to be shared, the sharing tells its own story, bringing the reader into Rizzo's world and letting us take what we may from her life and lists.

If I could give this 4.5 stars, I would. I loved it almost 100%, but I will say that after a while, reading list after list gets a bit tedious. And I didn't like that Rizzo added more narrative to her most recent lists; I would have preferred that she kept the format more consistent, with only a high-level view of the context of some of the lists. Otherwise, I loved it. I feel like I know her, like her lists could be mine, and vice versa. And I am left wondering what sort of story my own lists would tell....