Hello ! I share your opinion about their humanity. I started with short stories too. I can also recommend you : The Death of Ivan Ilyich / The Devil / In Pursuit of Happiness by the same author. I don't know much other Russian authors, but I liked Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (which is around 300 pages long, but still very short compared to other works such as Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov and so one).

My next big Russian read will probably be Anna Karenina !

Have a good read :)