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 . . .<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>Sometimes a book catches the spirit of the times. I'd Rather Not is about work, escape and that something more we all need.<br/><br/><br/><br/>'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 <br/><br/><br/><br/>'Robert Skinner writes with humour, intelligence and heart. Pick up this book and you may never put it down.' -Tony Birch<br/><br/><br/><br/>'This book is like a big, properly made gin and tonic drunk outside in a garden on a perfect Saturday afternoon.' -Cate Kennedy<br/><br/><br/><br/>'[Skinner's writing is] underpinned with what it is to be alive on this planet at this moment.' -Michael Winkler<br/><br/><br/><br/>'No one writes better when the stakes are lower.' -Sam Vincent<br/><br/><br/><br/>'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<br/><br/><br/><br/>'A funny and affecting celebration of the glorious choices we so often have about where to go and how to get there.' -Jim Shepard<br/><br/><br/><br/>'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