• Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000

This is a fantastic historical overview, and is used in most university classes dealing with ancient Egypt.

For religion:

• Assmann, Jan. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.

This is one of the premier academic analyses for Ancient Egyptian religion.

If you want to read translations (and a few analyses) of texts from Ancient Egypt, I heartily recommend

• Pritchard, James B. Ancient Near Eastern Texts: Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1969.

This provides translated texts of some of the more important texts in many different categories from Egypt and other cultures, including the Book of the Dead, the Song of Sinuhe, Hymns to Aten, etc.

Some books with good reputations that I haven't read myself:

• Trigger, Bruce G. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1983
• Kemp, Barry J. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. London: Routledge, 1989

Hope this helps.

EDIT: formatting