A Year in the Merde

I first intended to buy the latest book from Iain M. Banks, a sci-fi writer, but I failed to find any of his books here in Stockholm. I've only looked into 3 bookstores, there must be 267 left to try, so there is hope...
Anyway, I went instead for an almost-autobiography by an Englishmen telling us about his time in Paris. Despite the title, it seems he enjoyed his stay pretty much (he's still in Paris at the end of the book). I can relate to many of the situations he describes, although my first year in Sweden was probably a lot easier, if you consider that Swedes speak English well enough, while Frenchmen don't. And when they do, it seems it's absolutely undecipherable for native UK citizen. There's no better way to realize how strange one is than by having a stranger describe you from his point of view.
If I fail miserably at getting rich, popular and famous in Sweden, I can still write a book, who knows...