IR student here, looking to specialize in Russia. Requesting some titles on Russian history, no time frame in particular, all I want is a good overview on the whole thing. Thanks a bunch.
The Cambridge History of Russia is very comprehensive three volume collection which covers from early Rus' history to the 20th century. If you find anything that catches your interest, the footnotes and bibliographies will be able to direct you toward other works.
There is a book list in the sidebar. That's predominantly focused on the revolutionary/Stalinist period, so I'll try to provide a broader (but by no means extensive) list:
Paul Bushkovitch - A Concise History of Russia
Robert Crummey - The Formation of Muscovy, 1304 - 1615
Barbara Engel - Women in Russia, 1600 - 2000
Geoffrey Hosking - Russia: People and Empire, 1552 - 1917
Andreas Kappeler - The Russian Empire: A Multiethnic History
John LeDonne - The Russian Empire and the World, 1700 - 1917: The Geopolitics of Expansion and Containment
N. Riasanovsky - A History of Russia (7th ed)
Ronald Suny - The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States
E.K. Wirtschafter - Russia's Age of Serfdom, 1649 - 1861
Richard Wortman - Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in the Russian Monarchy (2 vols)
Walter G. Moss, A History of Russia to 1917. http://www.amazon.com/History-Russia-Russian-European-Eurasian/dp/1843310236/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1424360372&sr=8-5&keywords=history+of+russia
I used this book in college for a pre-Soviet Russian history course and found it very comprehensive. I liked especially that it covered what life was like for the lower classes throughout the different periods of Russian history.
It's a little dry in some places but not a hard read. The book is also organized well, so you can skip around or find what you need fairly quickly.
Only problem I have with it is the binding is terrible. I think the pages are going to fall out eventually.
There is also a second volume by Moss covering the Soviet and post-Soviet period. I haven't read it yet, but I imagine the quality of content is similar.
Robert Massie has an excellent series of biographies which I highly recommend, particularly his book on Peter the Great, which remains my favorite historical text to this day.
Riasanovsky's A History of Russia is very good, and not too much of a slog for an amateur.
The Soviet Colossus by Michael Kort
Anything by Robert K. Massie is highly regarded. He has written books about Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, & Nicholas & Alexandra.
Another more controversial historian is Richard Pipes (Russia under the Old Regime, The Russian Revolution, Russia under the Bolshevik Regime). He's a strong anti-Communist and is perceived as being right-wing by many, but I don't think that's a reason to discredit him. Most historians are on the left anyway, so it's good to view things from a variety of perspectives. Just keep the criticism of Pipes in mind.
I've heard good things about Gulag & Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, by Anne Applebaum. She isn't a historian though, FWIW.
Lenin's Tomb (David Remnick) and anything by Orlando Figes works as well.