What I mean by lighter is something like - for example - Martin Sixsmith's Russia. Basically a less detailed, but well presented version of events.

Also a follow up question: are these books worth reading?

I'm also interested in any historic fiction that you might recommend. But maybe that should be PMed; in fact honestly I'm sorry if this entire post isn't proper for the sub. I checked the sidebar FAQ, and while within the rules I saw fairly clear guidelines about hat constitutes a proper post, I'm hoping that maybe this could be just meta enough to pass and stay.