Reddit mentions of Workers' Councils

Reading Orwell's thoughts on the Spanish Revolution will make you view his other works entirely differently, I suspect

Also save yourself 50 hours and read this intro to Capital before any other Marx, it's actually a very concise summary that hits all the main points but also dispels many misconceptions.

Antoine Pannekoek is a great introduction to some non-Leninist Marxist thought

Finally this is just a light history of Socialism in America

All of these are relatively short and easy to read, two qualities whose absence in most Marxist literature turns people away all-too-quickly...