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I'll try and help out a bit, but in all honesty most of the stuff I know about wolves comes from online journals, articles, etc., and the book Wolves: Behaviour, Ecology, and Conservation. I keep mentioning this book because it is so accurate and comprehensive. It literally covers everything you could think of about wolves, from their social ethology to their molecular genetics, with each chapter being authored by an expert in that specific area. It would also allow you to build a picture of the daily life of a wolf. The reason I haven't actually read many more books than this is 1) because it is so comprehensive, so I haven't really had the need to find other books, and 2) because it is the most accurate book out there, whereas so many other books can be erroneous; I know I can trust it.

However, being written in an academic format, it is by no means simple (although it is readable with a bit of effort), and doesn't sugarcoat issues surrounding wolves, either. It's also not something you can just pick up and read in a day or two.

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Anyway, I'll try and help you with some recommendations which are more relevant to your question. Bear in mind that I haven't necessarily read all of these, so I'm just going off little bits I know about them, and other information I can find.

• The Hidden Life of Wolves (Jim and Jamie Dutcher)
  
  I've read a little bit of this book, but can't remember much about it as it was so long ago. It's based on this documentary, in which the authors spent a few years living with wild wolves in an enclosure. As far as I'm aware, it would fit with your criteria as it is simple and relatively happy.
  
  
• The Man Who Lives with Wolves (Shaun Ellis)
  
  Before anybody attacks me for this, I know that Shaun Ellis is controversial, and it's hardly the best source of accurate information. However, I read this book when I was first getting interested in wolves, and I really enjoyed it. Basically, [Shaun Ellis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Ellis_(wolf_researcher) is a British wolf researcher (not in an academic sense) who has lived with wild wolves, and raised a pack of abandoned wolf pups in a captive setting. This book follows his life and experiences, and definitely fits in with your criteria of being happy (for the most part). I'd recommend it, so long as you take it with a pinch of salt. There is also a documentary in which he raises the pups, which you can find here.
  
  
• Wolves (By Seymour Simon)
  
  I don't know anything about this one, but it seems like it would fit your criteria, and would provide some good information regarding a wolf's daily life.
  
  
• Never Cry Wolf (Farley Mowat)
  
  This is something which I really need to read. I've heard great things about it, and Farley Mowat done a lot for wolves. I don't know whether it will give you a good understanding of the daily life of wolves, but I'd recommend it regardless.
  
  As for documentaries, I'd recommend the following:
  
  
• The Mysterious White Wolf
  
  This is narrated by David Mech Richard Kiley (Mech is the primary scientific advisor - thanks /u/not_a_toad), who is one of the world's leading wolf biologists. I haven't watched all of it, but it seems to follow an Arctic wolf pack during pup season. However, it's very old, and therefore has some inaccuracies, such as calling the breeding pair the 'alphas' (note: Mech himself has said this to be false).
  
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  I've also just found this page from the International Wolf Centre, which has a collection of book and documentary recommendations. I'd very highly recommend you check it out, as most of these will be among the most accurate publications you could find.

Not sure if you are including the African painted wolves in your quest but if so, there are a few books I can recommend. Prices vary a lot - as with all these things, the more specialised ones tend to be more expensive and some are more difficult to get hold of than others.

• There is a really old classic called 'Solo' by Hugo van Lawick which has a lot of close observations of the wild dogs behaviour. It shows really well how, just as with domestic dogs, there are many different characters in a pack - the alpha female struck me as being a little on the psychotic side! No two dogs have identical markings and the same is probably true for their character. Peter Blinston, expert on the species and director of Painted Dog Conservation has said that it was this book which started his fascination for the species.
  
  
• Speaking of Peter Blinston - he and Nick Dyer, renown naturalist and photographer, have just published a coffee table book called 'Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog's Life' which is available from the [Painted Wolf Foundation](https://paintedwolf.org/the-book/
  ) which will receive all of the profits. Currently waiting for my copy to arrive so I can only say that I have seen a lot of images from it on various site and they are stunning. Given that Nick was virtually living with the pack at times and Peter has over twenty years in the field as conservationist with them, the text should be pretty comprehensive, too.
  
  
• The BBC are about to bring out a new nature series called 'Dynasties' which will feature the painted wolves as one of five species. I would imagine that the accompanying book should be pretty good, too, although it will feature the dogs for only a part. The painted wolves in question are the same packs as those in the book by Dyer and Blinston who were involved with the programme as consultants but who had already been studying them prior to the BBC.
  
  
• The two above both feature wild dogs in Zimbabwe where the areas available for the dogs to roam are larger - for a book detailing very different problems in connection with Lycaon pictus try African wild dogs: On the front line by Brendan Whittington-Jones. The book is all about the problems encountered when managing these packs of highly mobile carnivores in the smaller parks of Kwa-Zulu Natal. It starts off a bit slow but the reader is soon enmeshed in one break-out escapade after another with a dose of park politics thrown in. It covers a period of seven years and came out about three years ago but I did a double take the other day as there is a current problem which is pretty much an action re-take of an incident from the book. Conservationists are still fighting the same odds.
  
  
• I know you are not currently looking for a scientific book but should the day arrive... This one has got figures and statistics by the bucket load.
  
  Hope you are successful in your search :-)
  
  Edit: typo

Check out Hidden Lives of Wolves By Jim and Jamie Dutcher. Fantastic book with amazing photography. This one gives a good overview of wolves, their behavior and their social and emotional lives, along with the Dutcher's amazing photography. This one goes more into the "feels" of wolf life, why and how they play, form families, and grieve. This was written by two naturalists/filmmakers rather than a biologist, so they go much deeper into the psychology of wolves than other books. On that note, check out Carl Safina's Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel for a wonderful treatise on animal thought and emotion, a field that has largely been ignored by behaviorists in the past. Carl takes a look at elephants, wolves, dogs, and orcas in this book.

For more hard science, in-depth ecology and behavior, check out L. David Mech's Wolves: Ecology, Behavior and Conservation This is more of a textbook, very fact-based, written by one of the godfathers of wolf research and is fairly up to date with the latest research. These, along with the other recommendations in this thread, would be my go-to's for wolf behavior.

Of Wolves and Men was the first book I ever read on wolves that was truly informative and ignited my fascination with canines.

Domesticated is also a really interesting read on the domestication processes of several species. I believe there is a chapter on both dogs and foxes--the fox chapter speaking mostly towards the Russian fox experiment.

And on that note, I would highly suggest anyone interested in this subject to read up on the Russian fox experiment. Super cool accidental "experiment" that actually helped us develop our understanding of the process of canine domestication.

EDIT:

Here is Of Wolves and Men. I think it's a bit outdated and some of the information has been proven incorrect since its publishing, but I still enjoyed the read. Just keep in mind that not all of the book may be considered "fact" anymore.

Here is Domesticated. But keep in mind, if you buy this, you'll be getting a whole lot of information on animals you have not listed, and will likely only get a chapter or two on the subject you're actually interested in.

If, after these two, you find yourself remaining curious, I would advise you to read works from L. David Mech and Douglas W. Smith. These guys are considered two of the leading wolf biologists in America.

Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation will offer more about wolves than you'll ever reasonably be able to learn. Ultimate reference about pretty much everything.

For lighter reads most all the stuff in the "Customers Also Bought" section of that page should be ok, some of them might be effectively little more than picture books though (the Almanac). The Dutcher books are pretty popular, although iirc I've heard mention of some controversy over them. Of Wolves and Men is supposed to be a more philosophical writing, but I haven't gotten to it yet. For fiction, I'll give a special mention to Jack London's work, especially White Fang.

There was an old book post here a long time ago you could search up for more.

I second L David Mench. He has a really good book called "Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation". You'd have to pay to read it but the thing reads like a dissertation with tons of references.

If you click the link title it should redirect you to the Amazon page. If it doesn't I'll go ahead and include it below:

Physical copy - Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Digital copy

Sleepwish Yin and Yang Wolves Black by JoJoesArt Black and White Wolf Table Cloth Large ... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BSBTGTK/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_tai_i_pzC5Ab...

Amazon. Yup, I'm going to glue a piece of posterboard to the back, then frame it.