History Buffs, I could use a recommendation for a book to read during a hospital stay [View all]

[1-Old-Man]

I'm looking for a recommendation for a history book and if the book is available as an Audio book so much the better. I figured there would be no better place to ask than here. I would like to know more about the history of the part of the world that we usually mistakenly call Russia, but I mean to encompass all of the territories that would become the USSR. I'm interested in a period from about 1800 to the present, or at least up until the cold war. So of necessity it will be a very broad overview. I just came to realize that I really don't know a thing about the area or the people, just nothing at all.

If anyone has a favorite, particularly if its a book that I might find as an audio book for my Ipad, I'd really like to hear about it I'll be in the hospital for three days next week and were it not for the printed page or audio books I'd go nuts during the treatments.