The Tartakower with exf6 has become one of the pleasant discoveries for Black in recent years (the h5-variation). Many fighting ideas has been found. Magnus Carlsen mentioned on stream that the Caro is now played for a win on top level nowadays. I think the only challenge for Black is the advanced variation against which I struggle the most personally while all the other variations never have been a problem for me especially if White allows the Tartakower.
The game Duda - Carlsen inspired me to pick this variation up. Carlsen lost that game but in the analysis many interesting and exciting ideas were found. The positions are just a breath of fresh air.
It's the Advance Variation. I seem to be on my own with this. I realised years ago that white gets a bit of an edge and so I invented a simple variation which equalises completely for black. It's so simple and really it gives black a small edge. But everybody seems to want only to play what GMs play. I don't see why because if they lose with that then it's stupid to follow the leader.
Good for you.
The Caro-Kann is my main defense against 1. e4. The main books I use are by Schandorff and Houska.
I wouldn't worry too much about a book being 25 years old. At your level, there's no need to know the latest cutting-edge theory. You merely need something that'll teach you the basics of the opening.
My teammate in vote Chess is quite correct. We belong to the Caro-Kann Cutthroats and the Caro-Kann Players. If you join these groups, you will have fun and learn a lot!