diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3234142..79e5ea0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ You’re not alone: I also wish the code were documented.
 `cfg` has no comments, but let’s pretend we had `#` comments.
 
 ```
-# lists start with a name, then an indent, then a hyphen,
+# lists start with a name, then an indent, then a hyphen, a space,
 # and then a value
 my_list
-  -"value"
-  -12
+  - "value"
+  - 12
 
 # strings are quoted
 my_string "this is a string"
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ my_section
   my_second_numer 23.0
 ```
 
-Keys cannot contain spaces. Indents are always two spaces. There is no space
+Keys cannot contain spaces. Indents are always two spaces. There is one space
 between the hyphen and the value and an array. This is all.
 
 It is a simple format, some might think it is too simple. It is, however,
diff --git a/cfg.h b/cfg.h
index 98c5982..2212f55 100644
--- a/cfg.h
+++ b/cfg.h
@@ -425,9 +425,9 @@ string config_value_str(config_value* c, size_t indent) {
       for (i = 0; i < c->l->len; i++) {
         string_cappend(&res, "\n");
         for (j = 0; j < indent; j++) string_cappend(&res, " ");
-        string_cappend(&res, "  -");
+        string_cappend(&res, "  - ");
         val = list_nth_config_value(c->l, i);
-        sub = config_value_str(&val, 0);
+        sub = config_value_str(&val, indent+2);
         string_append(&res, &sub);
         free_string(sub);
       }
@@ -571,6 +571,9 @@ parsed_value config_parse_list(string* s, size_t* line, size_t* col, size_t inde
   *l =new_list_config_value();
 
   while(true) {
+    if (s->str[0] != ' ') return config_value_parse_error("expected space to start list element", *line, *col);
+    s->str++;
+    consumed += 1;
     elem = config_parse_value(s, line, col, indent);
 
     if (!elem.ok) return elem;
@@ -579,6 +582,7 @@ parsed_value config_parse_list(string* s, size_t* line, size_t* col, size_t inde
     consumed += elem.consumed;
     s->str += elem.consumed;
 
+    if (s->str[0] == '\0') break;
     if (!config_parse_line(s, line, col)) return config_value_parse_error("expected newline", *line, *col);
 
     ind = config_parse_indent(s, col);
diff --git a/example.cfg b/example.cfg
index a68d73b..ec21c60 100644
--- a/example.cfg
+++ b/example.cfg
@@ -3,3 +3,9 @@ x 1.0
 hi
   name 1
   val "hi"
+  list
+    - "value"
+    - -1
+    - 
+      - "this"
+      - "obj"