I'd Rather Not

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.

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.

Winner of the John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing and the People's Choice Award at the 2025 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.

Shortlisted in the Australian Book Industry Awards 2024 and the South Australian Literary Awards 2024.

'I was told this man came from the Adelaide Plains and so commenced to read his work. By the time I realised I'd been viciously misled and he actually grew up in Magill, it was too late. I was already completely in love with the book. It's an absolute bag of lollies.' - Annabel Crabb

'Robert Skinner writes with humour, intelligence and heart. Pick up this book and you may never put it down.' - Tony Birch

'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

'No one writes better when the stakes are lower.' - Sam Vincent

'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 colourful 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

'Skinner has been compared to Oscar Wilde, but his book is as self-effacing as it is quip-witted.' - Beejay Silcox, The Guardian 'The best Australian books of 2023'

'Skinner has been called the Australian David Sedaris and it's easy to see why. Both have the same droll, self-deprecating humour and both mine their own lives for maximum mirth-making potential. ... a book with a several-laughs-a-page quotient.' - Thuy On, Arts Hub

'The funniest book I have read for a long time' - Andy Griffiths, author of The Treehouse series.