For those first learning about Egypt or even for those that have been reading up on Ancient Egypt for some time, I've put together a list of those books currently perched upon my shelves that I would recommend to any interested in expanding their knowledge base. Some of these are very easy reads, some a bit more dry and others are reference materials. On this page I'll only list the title of the book and the authors/editors, however, for most of these I've been able to link them to amazon.com which usually has a nice description summary. Because of the addition of an Egyptian Research Account Memoirs category, there might be a couple of books referenced in two different categories.

General History

• EGYPT UNCOVERED, Vivian Davies & Renee Friedman
• A HISTORY OF EGYPT, James Henry Breasted
• EVERYDAY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT, Lionel Casson
• THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS: THEIR LIFE AND CUSTOMS VOL I & II, J. Gardiner Wilkinson
• THE OXFORD HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT, (edited by) Ian Shaw
• LIFE OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, Eugen Strouhal
• ANCIENT EGYPT, (general editor) David P. Silverman
• JEWELS OF THE PHARAOHS, Cyril Aldred
• TREASURES OF THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM (CAIRO), (editorial director) Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti
• THE QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY: TREASURES OF ANCIENT EGYPT, (editors) Erik Hornung & Betsy M. Bryan
• EGYPT: THE WORLD OF THE PHARAOHS, (edited by) Regine Schulz & Matthias Siedel
• THE MONUMENTS OF EGYPT: THE NAPOLEONIC EDITION, (edited by) Charles Coulston Gillispie & Michel Dewachter
• THE DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Alberto Siliotti
• EVERYDAY LIFE IN EGYPT: IN THE DAYS OF RAMESSES THE GREAT, Pierre Montet
• EGYPT OF THE PHARAOHS, Sir Alan Gardiner
• RED LAND, BLACK LAND: DAILY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT, Barbara Mertz
• JUDGMENT OF THE PHARAOH, Joyce Tyldesley
• THE EGYPTIANS, Cyril Aldred
• THE EGYPTIANS, Barbara Watterson
• A HISTORY OF EGYPT, Nicolas Grimal
• ANCIENT EGYPT: THE GREAT DISCOVERIES, Nicholas Reeves
• CULTURAL ATLAS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, John Baines & Jaromir Malek
• EGYPTIAN TREASURES: FROM THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM IN CAIRO, (edited by) Francesco Tiradritti
• DISEASE (EGYPTIAN BOOKSHELF), Joyce Filer
• EXCAVATING EGYPT: THE EGYPT EXPLORATION SOCIETY 1882-1982, (editor) T.G.H. James
• EROS ON THE NILE, Karol Mysliwiec
• WAR IN ANCIENT EGYPT, Anthony J. Spalinger
• EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIANS, Douglas J. Brewer & Emily Teeter
• MEMPHIS: THE CITY OF THE WHITE WALL, Marion T. Dimick

 

Pharoahs, Queens & Dynastic Lists

• RAMSES THE GREAT, (editor) Liz Conway
• PHARAOH TRIUMPHANT: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF RAMESSES II, K.A. Kitchen
• RAMESSES: EGYPT'S GREATEST PHARAOH, Joyce Tyldesley
• CLEOPATRA, Michael Grant
• CLEOPATRA, Jack Lindsay
• CHRONICLE OF THE PHARAOHS, Peter A. Clayton
• HATCHEPSUT: THE FEMALE PHARAOH, Joyce Tyldesley
• NEFERTITI: EGYPT'S SUN QUEEN, Joyce Tyldesley
• THE COMPLETE ROYAL FAMILIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton
• QUEENS OF THE PHARAOHS, Leonard Cottrell
• THE WARRIOR PHARAOH: RAMESES II & THE BATTLE OF QADESH, Mark Healy
• RAMESSES II, T.G.H. James
• A HISTORY OF EGYPT: FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE XVITH DYNASTY, W.M. Flinders Petrie
• A HISTORY OF EGYPT VOL. II: THE XVIITH AND XVIIITH DYNASTIES, W.M. Flinders Petrie
• A HISTORY OF EGYPT VOL. III: FROM THE XIXTH TO THE XXXTH DYNASTIES, W.M. Flinders Petrie
• ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT VOL I: THE FIRST THROUGH THE SEVENTEENTH DYNASTIES, James Henry Breasted
• ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT VOL. 2: THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY, James Henry Breasted
• ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT VOL. 3: THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY, James Henry Breasted
• ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT VOL. 4: THE TWENTIETH TO THE TWENTY-SIXTH DYNASTIES, James Henry Breasted
• ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT VOL. 5: INDICES, James Henry Breasted
• MONARCHS OF THE NILE, Aidan Dodson
• EGYPT'S FALSE PROPHET: AKHENATEN, Nicholas Reeves
• X-RAYING THE PHARAOHS, James E. Harris & Kent R. Weeks
• THE STORY OF RAMSES, Richard Sullivan
• THE ROYAL ANNALS OF ANCIENT EGYPT: THE PALERMO STONE AND ITS ASSOCIATED FRAGMENTS, Toby A.H. Wilkinson

 

Pre & Early Dynastic

• EGYPT'S MAKING: THE ORIGINS OF ANCIENT EGYPT 5000-2000, Michael Rice
• EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT, Toby A.H. Wilkinson
• PREDYNASTIC EGYPT, Barbara Adams
• HIERAKONPOLIS PART I: THE PLATES, J.E. Quibell
• EGYPT TO THE END OF THE OLD KINGDOM, Cyril Aldred
• ARCHAIC EGYPT, W.B. Emery
• THE EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD IN EGYPT, I.E.S. Edwards
• GENESIS OF THE PHARAOHS, Toby Wilkinson
• THE FORT CEMETARY AT HIERAKONPOLIS, Barbara Adams
• FROM EGYPT TO MESOPOTAMIA: A STUDY OF PREDYNASTIC TRADE ROUTES, Samuel Mark
• EGYPT BEFORE THE PHARAOHS, Michael A. Hoffman
• ANCIENT NEKHEN: GARSTANG IN THE CITY OF HIERAKONPOLIS, Barbara Adams
• ANCIENT EGYPT: FOUNDATIONS OF A CIVILIZATION, Douglas J. Brewer
• THE PALERMO STONE AND THE ARCHAIC KINGS OF EGYPT, Patrick F. O'Mara
• HIERAKONPOLIS PART II, J.E. Quibell & F.W. Green
• PREHISTORIC EGYPT, W.M. Flinders Petrie
• THE EXCAVATIONS AT HELWAN: ART & CIVILIZATION IN THE 1ST AND 2ND EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES, Zaki Y. Saad
• EXCAVATIONS AT SAQQARA 1937-1938: HOR-AHA, Walter B. Emery & Zaki Yusef Saad

 

Egyptian Research Account Memoirs

• BALLAS (First Memoir), J.E. Quibell
• BALLAS & NAQADA (First Memoir Revised), J.E. Quibell & W.M. Flinders Petrie
• THE RAMESSEUM (Second Memoir), J.E. Quibell
• EL KAB (Third Memoir), J.E. Quibell
• HIERAKONPOLIS PART I: THE PLATES (Fourth Memoir), J.E. Quibell
• HIERAKONPOLIS PART II (Fifth Memoir), J.E. Quibell & F.W. Green
• MAHASNA & BET KHALLAF (Seventh Memoir), John Garstang
• THE OSIREION (Ninth Memoir), Margaret Murray
• SAQQARA MASTABAS PART I (Tenth Memoir), Margaret Murray
• GIZEH AND RIFEH (Thirteenth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• MEMPHIS I (Fifteenth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• THE PALACE OF APRIES [MEMPHIS II] (Seventeenth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• MEYDUM AND MEMPHIS III (Eighteenth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie, Ernest MacKay & Gerald Wainwright
• ROMAN PORTRAITS AND MEMPHIS IV (Twentieth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• TARKHAN I AND MEMPHIS V (Twenty-third Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• HELIOPOLIS, KAFR AMMAR AND SHURAFA (Twenty-fourth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie & Ernest MacKay
• RIQQEH AND MEMPHIS VI (Twenty-fifth Memoir), R. Engelbach
• SCARABS AND CYLINDERS (Twenty-ninth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• PREHISTORIC EGYPT (Thirty-first Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• CORPUS OF PREHISTORIC POTTERY (Thirty-second Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• TOMBS OF THE COURTIERS AND OXYRHYNKHOS (Thirty-seventh Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• QAU AND BADARI I (Twenty-ninth Year), Guy Brunton
• BADARIAN CIVILISATION (Thirtieth Year), Guy Brunton and Gertrude Caton-Thompson
• HISTORICAL STUDIES (British School of Archaeology in Egypt Studies, Volume II), E.B. Knobel, W.W. Midgley, J.G. Milne, M.A. Murray & W.M. Flinders Petrie

 

Egypt Exploration Fund (kna EES) Excavation Memoirs

• ROYAL TOMBS OF THE FIRST DYNASTY (Eighteenth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• DIOSPOLIS PARVA (Twentieth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• ABYDOS I (Twenty-second Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• EL-AMRAH AND ABYDOS (Twenty-third Memoir), D. Randall-MacIver & A.C. Mace
• ABDYOS II (Twenty-fourth Memoir), W.M. Flinders Petrie
• ABYDOS III (Twnety-sixth Memoir), E.R. Ayrton

 

Language

• CRACKING CODES: THE ROSETTA STONE AND DECIPHERMENT, Richard Parkinson
• HOW TO READ EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS, Mark Collier & Bill Manley

 

Literature

• EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND, Donald A. MacKenzie
• THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT, (edited by) William Kelly Simpson
• EGYPTIAN LEGENDS AND STORIES, M.V. Seton-Williams
• THE WISDOM OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Joseph Kaster
• ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE VOL. I: THE OLD & MIDDLE KINGDOMS, Miriam Lichtheim
• ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE VOL. II: THE NEW KINGDOM, Miriam Lichtheim
• EGYPTIAN HIERATIC TEXTS: SERIES I - LITERARY TEXTS OF THE NEW KINGDOM, Alan H. Gardiner

 

Religion

• THE GREAT GODDESSES OF EGYPT, Barbara Lesko
• THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BOOKS OF THE AFTERLIFE, Erik Hornung
• ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MAGIC, Bob Brier
• GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Barbara Watterson
• THE COMPLETE GODS AND GODDESSES OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Richard H. Wilkinson
• THE COMPLETE TEMPLES OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Richard H. Wilkinson
• BOOK OF THE DEAD, R.O. Faulkner
• EGYPT: GODS, MYTHS AND RELIGION, Lucia Gahlin
• THE PYRAMID TEXTS, Samuel A.B. Mercer
• THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS: RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES, A. Rosalie David

 

Women in Egypt

• WOMEN IN ANCIENT EGYPT, Barbara Watterson
• WOMEN IN ANCIENT EGYPT, Gay Robins
• THE REMARKABLE WOMEN OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Barbara S. Lesko
• SILENT IMAGES: WOMEN IN PHARAONIC EGYPT, Zahi Hawass
• DAUGHTERS OF ISIS, Joyce Tyldesley

 

Tombs & Architecture

• THE LOST TOMB, Kent R. Weeks
• THE COMPLETE PYRAMIDS, Mark Lehner
• A GUIDE TO THE ANTIQUITIES OF EGYPT, Arthur Weigall
• VALLEY OF THE KINGS, (edited by) Kent R. Weeks
• THE ART & ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT, W. Stevenson Smith
• GUIDE TO THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS, Alberto Siliotti
• SAQQARA: THE ROYAL CEMETERY OF MEMPHIS, Jean-Philippe Lauer