I’d Rather Not

‘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 …’

From one of Australia’s most wryly funny writers comes an original and utterly hilarious memoir.

Sometimes a literary sensibility catches the spirit of the times. In I’d Rather Not, Robert Skinner has it all covered. This wonderful book of adventures (and misadventures) in the art of living is wryly subversive and constantly hilarious. It is about work, escape and that something more we all need.

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 gainful employment, beagles, house parties, ill-advised love affairs, camel trips and bureaucratic entanglements.

I’d Rather Not is a deeply funny book of light and shade, triumph and misadventure, where the wisdom is hard-won and promptly forgotten. Yet even when his ventures fail, Robert Skinner succeeds, always, in delighting readers.

For fans of Sloane Crosley, Andrew Sean Greer, Benjamin Law, Geoff Dyer, Eve Babitz and Clive James.

‘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

‘No one writes better when the stakes are lower.’
—Sam Vincent

‘Line after line of pure joy.’
—Chris Feik, Publisher

‘I gobbled this book up, snorting out loud at the weird and wonderful mayhem of Skinner’s life and career, sharing with friends some of the anecdotes as if they were my very own. This book is brilliant.’
—Kate Nash, PR & communications director

For your chance to win a limited edition bound proof, email now!

Out 4 July 2023 from Black Inc.

I’d Rather Not by Robert Skinner
Price: $27.99
ISBN: 9781760640354
Distributor: United Book Distributors

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