Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light: Essays

by Helen Ellis

The bestselling author of American Housewife and Southern Lady Code returns with an “inspiring, hilarious, straight-to-the-point” (Entertainment Weekly) collection of essays on friendship among grown-ass women.

"Ellis' prose is filled with so many laugh lines, you might want to go ahead and book the Botox.” —NPR

When Helen Ellis and her lifelong friends arrive for a reunion on the Redneck Riviera, they unpack more than their stories of husbands and kids, lost parents and lost jobs, powdered onion dip and photographs you have to hold by the edges, dirty jokes and sunscreen with SPF higher than they hair-sprayed their bangs senior year, and a bad mammogram. It's a diagnosis that scares them, but could never break their bond. Because women pushing fifty won't be pushed around.

In these twelve gloriously comic and moving essays, Helen Ellis dishes on married middle-age sex, sobs with a theater full of women as a psychic exorcises their sorrows, gets twenty shots of stomach bile to the neck to get rid of her double chin, and gathers up the courage to ask, "Are you there, Menopause? It's Me, Helen."

A book that reads like the best cocktail party of your life, Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light is alive with the sensational humor and ferocious love for her friends that won Helen Ellis legions of fans. This book has a raw vulnerability and an emotional generosity that takes this acclaimed author to a whole new level of accomplishment.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Essays, Memoir, Audiobook, Short Stories, Biography Memoir

Audible Audio

First published July 13, 2021

About the author

HELEN ELLIS an American novelist. She has authored two published novels, along with a short story collection and a forthcoming collection of essays. She is a poker player who competes on the national tournament circuit. Raised in Alabama, she lives with her husband in New York City.

Her first novel, Eating the Cheshire Cat (Scribner: 2001), is a dark comedy written in Southern Gothic fiction style. It tells the story of three girls raised in the South, and the odd, sometimes macabre tribulations they endure.

The Turning: What Curiosity Kills (Powell's Books: 2010), her second novel, is a "teen vampire" story about a southern 16-year-old girl adopted into a wealthy New York City family and centers on shape-shifting, teen romance, and the supernatural.

Her third publication, American Housewife (Doubleday: 2016), is "a sharp, funny, delightfully unhinged collection of stories set in the dark world of domesticity".

A collection of essays entitled Southern Lady Code was published in April 2019.

You can find her on Twitter @WhatIDoAllDay and Instagram @AmericanHousewife.

Reviews

[Lormac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, I should have loved this book, and I just didn't. A bright, sharp, middle-aged lady who does not care a fig about conventions writing about her friends and family and their misadventures and lives should be just up my alley. But this book grated on me. Helen is just too too-much that it seems like she is working way too hard to be a Card-Carrying Eccentrick (yes, so eccentric that she would spell it with a 'k' just to be too too-much). God bless her heart, but I will be over here in the corner with the quieter kooks.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars for Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light (audiobook) Helen Ellis read by the author.

I really enjoyed these essays. The author is raw and unapologetic with a lot of humor mixed in. I love her take on what it’s like being a woman.

[britt_brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thoughtful way Ellis writes about her lifelong friends is precisely the way I feel about mine. The love runs hella deep. My girls and I even have “Redneck Riviera” stories. 🤐 This collection is exactly what I hoped for - and needed. Hilarious, scary, honest, and 100% relatable. Phenomenal storytelling and audio narration. Ellis’s southern lilt adds another dimension. I just wanted it to be twice long! Definitely one to revisit.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 stars for content;;3 stars for charm;;4stars for laughability

Sometimes I just need a book that makes me laugh. This is a book of essays, 12 in all, short, sweet and sassy. Of the 12 stories, some made me smile, some reminded me of myself, some made me giggle and a couple made me laugh uncontrollably loud. Every once in awhile you just need a book for that middle aged woman (humm, can I live to be 150?). A short book that takes you away from everyday life and helps you to recharge. This is the book!

[Karissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh man I did not enjoy this. Ellis should stick with fiction. I am definitely not the intended audience (i.e. Southern white middle aged mothers). Regardless I'm not sure what any reader was supposed to get from the beginning of the book. This was written for the author and her friends, not the reader. DNF after the first painful chapter.

[Lisa Konet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this but the cover and title was deceiving AF, what did I get instead? Several essays about a woman who just complains and uses the same one-liners to seem and sound funny. IMO, the author was just over the top dramatic and whiny. Usually this kind of book, especially non fiction would make me laugh, this just annoyed the f*** out of me. Glad this was a library book.

Would not recommend but do not take my word for it. Someone else may actually find some humor in this. Not me.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Busted out laughing a bunch of times while listening to this book!

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was…grating. That’s the best thing I can say about it. It should’ve been something that worked for me - middle aged woman defying convention and living life her way with a bit of sass tossed in. It didn’t. At all.

My problem is that most of it doesn’t feel authentic. There are bits of life wisdom and poignant moments of friendship, but most of it reads as a caricature of any real person. Too much, too over the top, too concerned about seeming witty and oh so cool to feel real.

I have no doubt people will read this book and love it, but it wasn’t a match for me. It happens.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy that I read waaaaay too late.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is a series of essays sometimes dealing with more serious topics. The author finds a way to bring humor to every situation. It is rare for me to enjoy every essay in a collection but that is the case here. I just wish the author was a little less crude in her humor on occasion.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humorous, fast paced, collection of short stories.... liked!

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been meaning to read this author for some time. Since this is her latest book, I thought I’d give this one a try. I am now officially a Southerner, living in North Carolina for 4 years. I don’t know a thing about Southern Culture; I am a New Yorker. Yet, so is the author having lived in NYC for 30 years. So, I don’t think this taught me much about Southern humor and that’s fine, but overall it just was a bit too much. I didn’t find it that funny, it was like a comedian going on too long. Yet, I did like the parts about long term female friends, joking to lighten difficult situations, and the absurdity of NYC life where getting a lot of shots in your face is considered normal. Still, I am never taking a bus to Atlantic City and I know exactly where Theresa the Psychic is from on Long Island. I could take her over-the-top absurd visions for about one show. Cringe. So, some parts were kind of funny, the way she talks to her husband and laughed at being the second for her friend’s labor, maybe because mine was similar. Good in parts, put not great. I think I’ll try her earlier book Southern Lady Code that I have.

[thefourthvine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the least relateable memoir I have read. About halfway through the book, I whispered to the author through it, “Are you an alien or am I?” It seemed impossible that we could be members of the same species.

Helen Ellis sounds exhausting, and I wish her well but also I wish her well away from me. However, I’m giving this book three stars because it made me laugh once and also taught me one important thing (NEVER go to a celebrity psychic’s public performance).

[Erin Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of the razor sharp wit Helen Ellis is known for, BAGGAGE was a gem of a read, each essay a different sparkling facet and set in gold. Always relatable, always charming, I devoured this collection!

[Shannon Rochester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I added to my list because I liked the last one I read by this author...and I am happy to say I liked this one just as mine...I was laughing out loud by page 3...now that could be because I am a transplant to the South and what she says is all stuff I have heard around here or from w work colleague... But I laughed my way through this one and enjoyed every minute of it...This is also the first book I ever read the acknowledgements for in the back (I wasn't quite ready to get out of the tub yet lol) and was surprised to see a familiar name listed...one of the men who lives in my city that posts on the city group I belong to...needless to say, I will be reading more by this author.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Helen Ellis has a surprising sense of humor that will make most Southern ladies clutch their pearls. I adored her short story collection American Housewife and was charmed by her essay collection Southern Lady Code. Now she returns with more essays in Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light.
This time around she mostly muses on aging as she nears 50. It had a Nora Ephron vibe, which made sense when I saw the title of the last essay: I Feel Better About My Neck.

This is a super short collection, really an afternoon cover-to-cover read, but each is entertaining with her trademark sense of humor. It didn't pack the punch of her previous books for me but I still enjoyed sitting down with it for the hour or so it took to read.

My favorites here were The Last Garage Sale, a nostalgic look at her parent's shedding years of collected stuff in their final move; and I'm a Believer!, a highly quotable list I'd call her guide to life.

"I believe the older the friend, the longer the lunch. I believe the better the friend, the messier my house can be when she visits." *

"I believe in buying the next size up because I was not put on this earth to fit into and contain and restrain the largeness of my life." *

"I believe in hole-punching seven-year-old tax returns to make confetti." *

I recommend this book to readers who appreciate humorous essays.

Thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light is scheduled for release on July 13, 2021.

*Quotes included are from an advanced reader's copy and are subject to change upon final publication.

For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com

[Cindy H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for gifting me with an ARC of Helen Ellis’s new essay collection. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.


Helen Ellis is “my kind of people.” Hilariously funny, sharp, honest and able to recognize the humor in everything. She’s your number one backup plan, and makes you feel good about your lumps and bumps.
This collection of essays was absolutely fantastic! Each one was 100% relatable. I enjoyed every essay and laughed out loud numerous times. I admit, I shed a few tears during her essay about her friend group titled “Grown-Ass Ladies Gone Mild.” Helen reminds me of David Sedaris and Jenny Lawson and I can’t think of a better compliment than that.
Although I read this book in digital form, I’ve already pre-ordered the audiobook, as I can only imagine how brilliant it’s going to be hearing this read by Helen Ellis.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of candid and humorous essays were just what I needed right now. More thorough review to come. This is going on my "best of 2021" shelf.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance digital reading galley.

[Meg C · Rating 1 out of 5]

• I was so excited for this ARC because Southern Lady Code was one of my faves from 2019.
• Friends, this was not good.
• Not good at all. Just a lot of essays about how horrible it is to get old and the worst part is I didn't laugh ONCE! Not a single chuckle!!!

[Mayar Mahdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

This is a perfectly okay book. It's fun at times but the overall impact of it wasn't great.

I loved American Housewife. I read this hoping it would be similar, it wasn't. It's a collection of essays about the author's life. Some are fun, some aren't.

It's good. Not great, but good.

[Erika Strehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Helen Ellis typed her grocery lists I would read those too

[Chris Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual genre but these essays are spot on!!! I laughed and cried.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in the mood for humor, and humor was delivered. Helen Ellis writes essays about her friendships with others, about what it's like to be nearing fifty, and about her place in the world.

I read this book in less than two hours, straight through.

Now I see others saying this wasn't her best book. I might need to look for more Helen Ellis.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bestselling author of AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE and SOUTHERN LADY CODE returns with a collection of essays on friendship among grown-ass women. I especially loved the one explaining the difference between a Character and a Hoot.

I laughed so hard my husband requested I not listen while driving. I ignored him. I might listen to it twice (the whole book is only three hours long). Ellis is unapologetically candid, vulnerable, and sometimes crude but always accepting and hilarious. Her delivery as the audiobook narrator sends this essay collection over the top (in more ways than one). It’s worth it just to hear her say, “Piggly Wiggly.”

QOTD: What’s the last thing you read that made you laugh?

I listened to this audiobook on loan from the DoD MWR Library using the Libby App.

[Erin Cataldi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bestselling author of Southern Lady Code and American Housewife, Helen Ellis, returns with another humorous collection of essays on the beauty of friendship. More than just tired old adages, this witty collection explores what real friends do for one another; stories about being a last minute birthing partner, supporting a friend through cancer, backdoor plastic surgery and greyhound buses - there is no limit on what friends will do for each other. Hele even explores the joy of being a number two friend or a backup buddy - less pressure - more befits! Each of the twelve essays features a revolving cast of friends and side characters that will leave readers cackling with delight. Enchantingly narrated by the author herself which lends to the books relatability and hilarity. This collection manages to be both poignant and emotional; while still being facetious, dirty, sassy, and laugh out loud funny. Perfect for fans of Jenny Lawson and David Sedaris.

[Peter Tillman]

NPR review https://www.npr.org/2021/07/12/101510...
Excerpt:
"Ellis is a hoot. She's also a force. What she isn't, she explains, is a character — which is Southern Lady Code for a "woman who's funny because she's tipsier than a Gibson's pickled pear onion."

Nor, as her Mama reminds her, is her humor for everyone. But she doesn't care. She has come to own the power of her personality — and her work.

"There's a saying at the poker table," she writes: "If you can't figure out who the worst player is in the first thirty minutes, it's you." She adds, "It's never me. Don't let the pearls or patchouli fool you."

Maybe??

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catty, kooky, but maybe not always quite as humorous or outrageous!! as the author herself may think it is, but nevertheless this audiobook was still better entertainment than a podcast on supply chains or mask mandates. 🤨 Some of the bathroom humor in particular was LOL-worthy (I’ll never grow up,) but other sections went onnnnn a bit long. Reminded me more than once of Jen Lancaster (whose early work I’ve loved, so a that’s good thing!) And Helen loves & supports libraries, so I added a star for that.

[Basic B's Guide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helen Ellis is your poker playing, no bullshit and unfiltered backup plan bestie.

This collection of essays made me think about growing older and having a good laugh about it. I especially loved the opening chapter “Grown-Ass Ladies Gone Mild”. As sassy as always, fans of the author and anyone approaching middle-age will especially enjoy this one.

Thank you Doubleday for the gifted arc.

[Cindy (leavemetomybooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read and is definitely worth checking out, but while there were some relatable and funny parts (especially "Are You There, Menopause? It's Me, Helen) this collection of essays unfortunately fell a bit flat for me overall.

* thanks to NetGalley & Doubleday Books for the eARC for review. Available 7/13/21.

[kvazimodla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories / life commentary on facts of (this specific) life, from POV of a middle aged woman - read: thoroughly liberated from most of life's crap - in an irreverent and a little too much shock-value seeking way.
Some I could relate to, some not.
Lots of contemporary American references that I am completely unfamiliar with.
Still, entertaining.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful, funny book from Helen Ellis. So glad I started reading her books. I could have read this in a day if I wasn't working. So funny and relatable, if you are a woman of a certain age. I will definitely be recommending it.