I really enjoy David Sedaris’ books. They are all a comedic mixture of autobiographical prose (and some fiction). My two favorite books of his are Barrel Fever and Me Talk Pretty One Day. The latter is a good summary of how it feels to live in a foreign country when you have trouble with basic communications skills. He tells the story of cultural shock as the extension of his life long state of being an outsider, from speaking with a lisp to living in North Carolina to not being interested in footbal to going to college and ending up in France.
I first heard of Sedaris while listening to NPR probably around 1997. Sedaris was explaining how he had moved to France with the hope of hearing the French talking all day about art and film, but once he learned enough French to understand the language, he saw that they spent their days, like everyone else, gossiping about their neigbhors.
In any event, here is David Sedaris on the Letterman Show from a while back reading a short essay. Despite his annoying voice and not being his best essay, it is still pretty funny.
Grave Error 