A possible solution: the generic list


 struct generic_list {
         struct generic_list *next;
         void *payload;
 };
 #define list_insert(h, new) \
         ({(new)->next = (h); (h) = (new);})
 #define list_extract(h) \
         ({struct generic_list *res = (h); if (h) (h) = (h)->next; res;})

The implementation above leads to the following code

        while (fgets(line, 16, stdin)) {
                item = malloc(sizeof(*item));
                item->payload = malloc(sizeof(line));
                memcpy(item->payload, line, sizeof(line));
                list_insert(head, item);
       }
We are used to separate the payload from the real work
This approach allows to refine list management over time
There is minimal effort in porting to a different payload
The slightly extra work (alloc/free) is not expected to be a problem