I’d Rather Not by Robert Skinner
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Description
From one of Australia's most wryly funny writers comes an original and utterly hilarious memoir about reaching for the stars while lying in a ditch.
I was sleeping in what might reasonably be described as a ditch, though I tried not to think of it in those terms for morale reasons . . .
Robert Skinner arrives in the city, searching for a richer life. Things begin badly and then, surprisingly, get slightly worse. Pretty soon he's sleeping rough and trying to run a literary magazine out of a dog park. His quest for meaning keeps being thwarted, by endless jobs, beagles, house parties, ill-advised love affairs, camel trips and bureaucratic entanglements.
Sometimes a book catches the spirit of the times. I'd Rather Not is about work, escape and that something more we all need.
'This book is like a big, properly made gin and tonic drunk outside in a garden on a perfect Saturday afternoon.' – Cate Kennedy
'…no other book brought me as much joy as this hilarious and deceptively artful collection, and in these uncertain times that is worth plenty.' – Michael Winkler
'My heart leaps whenever I see Robert Skinner's by-line; I know I am in for a hilarious literary treat complete with wry pearlers, gallows truths and wicked timing. People will say he is Australia's Sedaris, but he's not. He's Robert Skinner and he's a bloody marvel.' – Anna Krien
'Brevity may be the soul of wit, but the nimble economy of this slim volume will make readers pine for more. A decidedly skewed, hilarious collection of life reflections and colorful storytelling.' – Kirkus
'Seriously the funniest book I've read all year. I can't stop thinking about Robert Skinner's forays into the most mundane and frustrating aspects of life – Centrelink, being a tour guide, applying for arts funding – and the shameless truths he not only reveals about himself but about us as a society. Read this book with a bottle of wine, and be alarmed and enlightened!' – Alice Pung
'If only all books were as funny, human and true as I'd Rather Not. I raced through it, marvelling and envious all the way.' – Michelle de Kretser
176 pp. b-format paperback
13.97 x 1.04 x 20.96 cm
Published July 2023 by Black Inc
