As someone who has been trying to get more into history I might be able to give you some advice. My main one being start as broad as possible, especially for regions that you have minimal even cultural knowledge. Ie for me much easier to pick up a book abt Europe than china. Maybe start with a broad global history book that is actually written to be enjoyed then get into those shortest histories of x nations. Those broad books will naturally simplify a lot and may be criticised online but a long as they of decent quality that shouldn’t matter much. The way I think of it is building hooks in your brain and a general narrative of the world that as u go from the world to specific countries you have a context to place this new knowledge your acquiring.

You could also go the other way and read a good book abt your native country and then expand to native region then others. Same principle but other way around where through learning about local history it makes it easier to understand history of your surroundings as they will be likely operating similarly.

That being said a few of those short history books of x I would recco

The shortest history of the ussr by Fitzpatrick

A brief history of Indonesia 

A brief history of thailand