In The Long Haul, Amanda Stern's slim, concentrated debut novel, the nameless heroine unearths a list she drew up at age 12, a life plan. The enumerations include anticipated rituals (#1: "Get ears pierced?"), domestic matters (#19: "Buy a farmhouse. Grow vegetables"), and ladder rungs for an artistic career. She finds that she derailed at #5 ("Study painting") but can at least do #8: "Leave home. Done. Crossed out. I'm gone."