Houska's book on Caro-Kann - similar books on other openings

Could anybody help with the above request, please?

Perhaps the series: Mastering ... With The Read and Play Method

These are good and very good one-volume opening primers:

How to Play Good Opening Moves - Edmar Mednis
Ideas Behind Chess Openings - Reuben Fine
Chess Openings - Michael Basman
How to Play the Opening in Chess - Keene, Levy

Bigger and more current work:
FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings: Paul Van Der Sterren

I really enjoyed William Hartston's Penguin Book of Chess Openings when I was younger.  It's very clear and entertaining even.  It answers some questions that other books don't seem to cover.

John Emms has written a book called Discovering Chess Openings where he covers a lot of general principles.  Emms has also written monographs on specific openings, eg. 1.e4 e5 which include some general ideas.

Johan Hellsten's Mastering Opening Strategy is a wonderful book with lots of exercises, but it might be a little bit advanced.

Reuben Fine's book was excellent when it first came out, but I believe that was in 1943.  I think an algebraic edition came out in 1989.

Another vote for FCO.  Instructive to use along with Reuben Fine's tome.  Compare and contrast to see how theory has advanced. 

I think you pick up one book with multiple openings and ideas then see what you like the best and then buy a couple specialized books.  If your funds are very limited, and I see you are from the EU, buy off of chess suppliers there to make your money go further. Most of today's chess books all originate from the EU so they should be cheaper there then anywhere else.  Gambit, NIC, Quality, Olms, Thinkers Publishing, just to name some, a few others I can't remember off hand. 

Vincent Moret's recent opening repertoire books are written in, as you say, "...an ideas centered way"...

There are a sample pages from the books on the publisher's (New In Chess) website...

"My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White..."

https://www.newinchess.com/en_US/my-first-chess-opening-repertoire-for-white

Check reader reviews of the White repertoire here, where my review (RLBell) gives the openings featured...

https://www.amazon.com/First-Chess-Opening-Repertoire-White/dp/9056916335/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503740057&sr=1-1&keywords=Vincent+moret

and his most recent repertoire book for Black....(not yet available from Amazon USA)...

"My First Chess Opening Repertoire for Black..."

the book's table of contents indicates the openings featured in the Black repertoire...

https://www.newinchess.com/en_US/catalog/product/view/id/2355/s/my-first-chess-opening-repertoire-for-black/

Appears to be a 10% discount if you buy both books together...

https://www.newinchess.com/my-first-chess-opening-repertoire-for-white-and-black

Otherwise, the following list might have something that interests you.  It includes my review of Moret's White opening repertoire book, which in my opinion is an outstanding, well written chess book, targeted to the amateur chess player, where the ideas, themes and plans are very clearly explained.  (I have not yet acquired a copy of Moret's Black opening repertoire book.  When I do - from Amazon, sometime over the next couple of months - I hope to include a review of it as well).

Good Chess Opening Books for Beginners and Beyond....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

jarrasch wrote: "... Fundamental Chess Openings ..."
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/FCO_Fundamental_Chess_Openings.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708112658/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review315.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626181639/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen40.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

Perhaps thinking of Flear or Davies?

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627044948/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen158.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9050.pdf

Beating 1.e4 e5 a Repertoire for White in the Open Games and Play the Open Games as Black are by Emms.  He also co-wrote Dangerous Weapons 1.e4 e5 with Flear and Andrew Greet.

The Dangerous Weapons series generally tends to have a lot of ideas that you can apply to your own games.

Thank you very much for all the responses. I'll take a closer look at all these titles.

I'm not familiar with the entire series, but I am working my way through Tony Kosten's title on the Nimzo-Indian. It is an outstanding introduction to that opening. It discusses the strategic aims of both players in general terms and in the context of a number of structures that commonly arise. Tactical themes are also addressed.

If you want an introduction to how to actually play an opening, this is a great way to go. When you later start to learn variations, you will understand why the moves are played instead of just trying to memorize them.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627022601/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen11.txt