I've been reading the Janet Evanovich mysteries, some on shipboard, some on land. These books featuring the picaresque adventures of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum are technically mysteries, but they are mostly evocations of life in Trenton, NJ, among working class and lower middle class ethnics.
If that sounds depressing, it isn't. Quite the contrary, these books might more properly be classed as humor...I often find myself laughing while reading them. Evanovich may be this generation's Mark Twain.
These books are vastly popular, one is on The Wall Street Journal best seller list right now. If you could use some good laughs, pick up one of the Stephanie Plum mysteries. A nice thing about this series is that there are more than 14 of them, so if you enjoy your first one there are plenty more where that came from.
