I have not found any particular fiction or fiction-y accounts very useful.

I have recently edited and updated our booklist for medieval Europe, which has quite a few things to interest you.

I have not yet gotten around to editing the paleography booklist, but I would suggest you check out this if you are interested in MSS:

• Duffy, Eamon. Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers 1240-1570. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

This is not actually my favourite, but it is an important work in history and historiography:

Montaillou, village occitan de 1294 à 1324 by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (1975). It's translated into English as Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French Village 1294-1324.

Without going into too much detail, Le Roy Ladurie was student of Fernand Braudel of the Annales school in historiography. Le Roy Ladurie pioneered the history of the common people with his work on the peasants of the Languedoc (Les paysans de Languedoc, 1966). In short, he thought looking at ordinary people was more insightful and valid than looking at big events such as wars and political upheaval. He did this by focussing on specific locations (Languedoc, Montaillou) or families (the Platter family). Montaillou is his only work which really covers the medieval period; the other work is a bit later (16th, 17th century).

Edit: I see now it's actually in the book list recommended by /u/telkanuru. So consider this book doubly recommended :)