I'd Rather Not

Description

From one of Australia's most wryly funny writers comes an original and utterly hilarious memoir of reaching for the stars while lying in a ditch. 'No one writes better when the stakes are lower.' -Sam Vincent, author of My Father and Other Animals Quiet Quitting. The Great Resignation. 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. '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 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, Nathan Fielder and David Sedaris.

Robert Skinner was born and raised on the Adelaide Plains. His writing appears frequently in The Monthly, and has also been featured in The Best Australian Essays, Best Australian Comedy Writing and Internazionale. He currently lives in Melbourne, where he works in a bookshop and plays football at the lowest level. His forthcoming book is I'd Rather Not.