Recently, I played a few games (e.g. Crusader Kings 2, and Civilization V), after which I've sort of been getting the urge to read up on historical periods/figures.
I'm willing to try out a very varied range of time periods (as long as it's pre-1900. 1900+ would be too modern a period for my taste, I reckon). I also have very little historical knowledge; for instance, I know the names of Joan of Arc, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, but don't know what the former two did, and only have the faintest of ideas on what the latter two are famous for. So, any setting is fair game for suggestions, whether it's Vikings, Egypt, Rome, etc.
As for writing style, I'm looking for texts which:
are in a story-like fashion instead of an informational fashion. Wikipedia and news articles bore me. I want the text to focus on a person's view, instead of giving an overview of how things were at the time. I want to read about what the historical figure was as a person, the difficulties he/she faced, what they used to feel and think, how and why they took their actions, etc.
are NOT very descriptive/flowery. For instance, I disliked Nabokov's writing. I prefer the writing styles of Asimov, Game of Thrones (i.e. book 1; haven't read the rest), Harry Potter, and to an extent, Stephen King. So, yeah, I prefer straightforward prose over intricate, difficult-to-decipher texts.
are well-written/edited. By that, I mean the language of the text is concise and avoids common pitfalls that befall novice writers.
So, anyone have any suggestions on which historical books/texts I should try out?
are in a story-like fashion instead of an informational fashion. Wikipedia and news articles bore me. I want the text to focus on a person's view, instead of giving an overview of how things were at the time. I want to read about what the historical figure was as a person, the difficulties he/she faced, what they used to feel and think, how and why they took their actions, etc.
I hate to be "that guy" but this is something you're really going to have to get over if you want to get into any serious level of historical understanding and reading. The fact is is that you can't read or truly understand why a person did what they did, the difficulties they faced, what they felt and thought, and why or how they took their actions without knowing "the overview" or the "general information". You can't understand Napoleon without understanding the Revolution and you can't understand the Revolution without understanding Absolutist France and you can't understand Absolutist France from the first person perspectives of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI.
Likewise, I couldn't understand Bismark or Willhelm I/II or Weltpolitik without first understanding the roots of German nationalism. That requires an understanding of Enlightenment German thought and Napoleon's administration of the Rhine which I won't get from a biography or first person account from Napoleon or whatever. It requires a general understanding of these things that comes from a more generalized history. In this case I got it from "The Origins of the Wars of German Unification 1864-1871" by William Carr.
Narrative and biographical history is probably the most rewarding and interesting history I've had the pleasure of reading but it also requires a solid base to truly grasp. You need to contextualize things and that requires a firm understanding of the period. While I do find this an endlessly rewarding and fun hobby, that is reading history, it is also one that requires a level of dedication in my opinion.
However if there is a bonus you really don't need to worry about flowery writing unless you're reading pop-history. Generally if you're buying (or otherwise acquiring) books published from an academic publisher then they will be well edited, well sourced, well written, and to the point. I've almost a thousand dollars worth of books at this point (Christ) and I've never once spotted a typo or felt it was trying to be too flowery or wordy.
So anyways down to the suggestions! I'll try to include mostly books that have a lot of first hand accounts or are focused around a specific group of people. I think what you want is something that humanizes history tbh not some removed analytic study and I completely understand that. So I'll do my best to help that! I know you said no 1900's+ but I must recommend three books about WWI as they are too good to not have you pick up.
WWI:
Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front by Richard Holmes, $0.58 cheapest used.
The First Day on the Somme by Martin Middlebrooks, $0.01 cheapest used. Focuses on a handful of men from all over the British Empire. It follows them through the beginning of the war to the Somme while also explaining the general history leading up until that point. It's not comprehensive but it's damn accessible, well written, well explained, and by no means boring. It also has that personalizing flair by focusing on some notable regular people in the battle.
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, $2.69 cheapest used. Written by a journalist and not a historian this is still nonetheless a classic on the opening of the war. As you can imagine it is very well written and incredibly accessible. If you pick one book out of these three to read it's this one.
Napoleonic Wars:
The March Of The Twenty-Six: The Story Of Napoleans's Marshalls by R.F. Delderfield, $0.67 cheapest used. Never personally read but has been highly recommended to me by /u/DonaldFDraper, probably our best Napoleonic Wars guy. He recommends this as a great place to start and describes it as narrative history.
Napoleon's Marshals Ed. by David G. Chandler, $4.98 cheapest used. This is a series of essays which are literal biographical works on Napoleon's marshals by the top Napoleonic scholars. Highly recommended if you want to understand the men who led these armies to war under Napoleon. However I would not recommend starting here but doing this after you have some grasp of the Napoleonic Wars. For that I'd recommend...
Swords Around A Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armee by John R. Elting, $1.60 cheapest used. From the book list description: "This tome on the Grande Armee is a very approachable yet detailed discourse on the composition and inner workings of Napoleon's greatest army. Packed with anecdotal stories, it gives a functional history of the army that Napoleon led rather than an operational history, explaining how each different service worked within the army and how it grew to it's height. Covering everything from the navy to logistics, this is a good book to catch for and understanding of the army." It's honestly my favorite book ever so highly recommended if the Napoleonic Wars are your thing. However when it says "tome" it means it -- it's a veeeerrryyyy deep book!
French Society in Revolution, 1789-1799 by David Andress, $1.99 cheapest used. Haven't personally read but I've heard it's a great introduction to the revolution.
Misc:
The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller by Carlo Ginzburg, $3.05 cheapest. I was first exposed to this book in my Intro to Humanities Course and it was probably the coolest thing I've ever read. It is testimony from a man Domenico Scandella, a miller also known as Menocchio, when he was brought to trial by the inquisition. It is one of the only first hand glimpses we have into the life of the average man in early-modern Europe (in this case, North Italy).
I'll reply to this post in the future if I find any more books which may be of use to you. I kind of have the issue that I sort of dove right into the Intermediate level stuff so I don't have quite a lot of intro books if you know what I mean. If you have a real interest in Early-Modern history (1500's-1700's) I'd suggest PM'ing /u/DonaldFDraper (if he doesnt find this thread first and post) or /u/BritainOPPlsNerf and asking them for some suggestions! It's just kind of an issue because in terms of this subject there's...not much and what there is it's pretty higher level stuff. So it's kind of hit and miss.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. If you were to take out the sources and references to dates and what not it would probably read like a novel.