{"product_id":"i-d-rather-not","title":"I'd Rather Not","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom 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.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eI 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 . . .\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRobert 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSometimes a book catches the spirit of the times. \u003ci\u003eI'd Rather Not\u003c\/i\u003e is about work, escape and that something more we all need.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWinner of the John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing and the People's Choice Award at the 2025 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eShortlisted in the Australian Book Industry Awards 2024 and the South Australian Literary Awards 2024\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'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.' -\u003cb\u003eAnnabel Crabb \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Robert Skinner writes with humour, intelligence and heart. Pick up this book and you may never put it down.' -\u003cb\u003eTony Birch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'This book is like a big, properly made gin and tonic drunk outside in a garden on a perfect Saturday afternoon.' -\u003cb\u003eCate Kennedy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'...no other book brought me as much joy as this hilarious and deceptively artful collection, and in these uncertain times that is worth plenty.' -\u003cb\u003eMichael Winkler\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'No one writes better when the stakes are lower.' -\u003cb\u003eSam Vincent\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'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.' -\u003cb\u003eAnna Krien\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'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.' -\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'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!' -\u003cb\u003eAlice Pung\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'If only all books were as funny, human and true as \u003ci\u003eI'd Rather Not\u003c\/i\u003e. I raced through it, marvelling and envious all the way.' -\u003cb\u003eMichelle de Kretser\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Skinner has been compared to Oscar Wilde, but his book is as self-effacing as it is quip-witted.' \u003cb\u003e-Beejay Silcox,\u003ci\u003e The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e 'The best Australian books of 2023'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'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.' -\u003cb\u003eThuy On, \u003ci\u003eArts Hub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e'The funniest book I have read for a long time' \u003cb\u003e-Andy Griffiths, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Treehouse\u003c\/i\u003e series.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Robert Skinner","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43516576399421,"sku":null,"price":28.49,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/7689\/2989\/files\/9781760640354.jpg?v=1787557294","url":"https:\/\/www.palmleaf.com.au\/products\/i-d-rather-not","provider":"Palmleaf","version":"1.0","type":"link"}