My introductory three would probably be:

1. Eugene Rogan's The Arabs: A History which covers the creation of the modern Arab Middle East to the present.
2. Steve Coll's Ghost Wars: Looking at US and regional policy, policy makers, and practitioners tracing the threads from the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the forming of al-Qaeda to 9/11.
3. The Arab-Israeli and Arab-Palestinian Conflict, along with the history of Zionism and the foundation of Israel, have perhaps produced more literature and is more contentious than just about any other topic in the modern history of the region. The FAQ has good suggestions. Benny Morris is very well regarded here. I might add Tom Segev's One Palestine, Complete as being one that I quite like.

These all also have the advantage of being highly readable, intended for a non-specialist audience, and well written. Coll's book, in particular, practically reads like a thriller but is really top notch.

Well the book I started with was APeace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Middle East, it covers the years between 1914 - 1924 and how the borders got that way, as well as Zionism and the foundations for Israel. I found it an excellent book and helped me to understand a little bit more about the region. Anything after this era I'll defer to someone more knowledgeable. I hope this recommendation helps!

The Great War for Civilization, by Robert Fisk. There's a chapter devoted to an aspect of the israeli-palestine conflict but more or less every chapter establishes connections with it.

House of Bush House of Saud by Craig Ungers; Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson

Fawaz A. Gerges's ISIS: A History, while less focused on Israel and dealing very much with recent history, is excellent on how social and political conditions in the Middle East, together with foreign intervention, fomented the rise of groups such as ISIS.

Pity the Nation by Robert Fisk is a good introduction to the Lebanese situation. Also The Six Day War - not sure of the author's name though.

The Looming Tower has good information on Al-Qaeda and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism

Thicker Than Oil is a fantastic book detailing the highly nuanced relationship between the USA and Saudi Arabia.

• Hourani, A. History of the Arab Peoples
• Lewis, B. The Middle East, 2000 Years of History
• Lewis, B. What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response

American Raj, and War at the top of the world are excellent works by Eric Margolis. I found them involving to read, they cover a good length and breadth of modern history, and they're written by an author who's dedicated his life to reporting on the region.

It's not explicitly about the conflict in the Middle East, but Destiny Disrupted provides a ton of good context for the Islamic perspective.