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Here's a list of the key books in the field that I'm familiar with (by name and general contents, I've only actually read a few of them). I'm mainly focusing on what is relevant to the study of Twelver Shi'ism; there aren't many English language books on Zaidism, as far as I'm aware, and for Isma'ilism you can start with the works of Farhad Daftary.

I'll start with important works providing an overview of the area, and then give a rough breakdown by "era" (I may be a bit off regarding the era, and many of these books straddle two or more eras, so be warned). This list does not emphasize geographic studies of Shi'ism in various areas and countries, and rather traces the "core narrative" of the development of Shi'i intellectual history, which is typically thought of as happening in what is now modern day Iran, Iraq, and (especially in the post-Mongol/pre-Safavid era) Lebanon, and to a lesser extent in Bahrain. Once you've read the initial works, you should have a good idea about what's going on in each era, and you can pick and choose what to read based on your interests.

If you have no background in general Islamic history, you should first pick up a book on that subject. Tamim Ansary's Destiny Disrupted is an accessible non-academic book on general Islamic history (with an entertaining audiobook read by the author). If you want something heavier and more academic, Marshall G.S. Hodgson's The Venture of Islam is the classic three-volume reference in the field of Islamic studies, although it's a bit dated, especially in the third volume (covering the so-called "Gunpowder Empires"). Note that the standard introductory text on Shi'ism has long been Moojan Momen's book An Introduction to Shi'i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism, but this book is now a bit dated. Heinz Halm also has some surveys, but I'm less familiar with these; likewise for the surveys of Farhad Daftary (who is better known for his work on Isma'ilism than general Shi'ism).

Surveys, Background, and Introduction

• Najam Haider's Shi'i Islam: An Introduction. This is a unique take on introducing Shi'ism that starts with what makes Shi'ism theologically distinct; the book also devotes roughly equal attention to the Zaidi, Isma'ili, and Twelver branches of the faith.
  
• Hossein Modaressi's An Introduction to Shi'i Law: A Bibliographical Study. Chapter 4 provides a very concise, yet fairly thorough overview of the history of the development of Shi'i legal theory; Chapters 1-3 can be read as "optional" background, while the rest is a bibliographical overview that is unlikely to be of interest to a non-specialist.
  
• Andrew J. Newman's Twelver Shiism: Unity and Diversity in the Life of Islam, 632 to 1722. A solid history of Twelver Shi'ism from its beginnings to the end of the Safavid period.
  
• Roy Mottahedeh's The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran. While ostensibility an intellectual history of Iran spanning centuries, this is a great introductory look at various aspects of Shi'ism, particularly as it concerns learning in the seminaries.
  
  The Succession and the so-called "Rashidun" Era
  
  
• Wilfred Madelung's The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Calpihate
  
• S.M.H. Jafri's The Origins and Early Development of Shi'i Islam
  
  The Imams and Early Shi'is in the Ummayid and `Abbasid Eras
  
  
• Arzina Lalani's Early Shi'i Thought: The Contribution of Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir
  
• Najam Haider's The Origins of the Shi'a: Identity, Ritual, and Sacred Space in Eighth-Century Kufa
  
• Maria Massi Dakake's The Charismatic Community: Shi'ite Identity in Early Islam
  
• Hossein Modarressi's Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shi'ite Islam: Abu Ja'far Ibn Qiba Al-Razi and His Contribution to Imamite Shi'ite Thought. Considered the standard book on the "rationalist/moderate/shortcoming" view of Imamate.
  
• Mohammad Ali Amir Moezzi's The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam. Considered the standard book on the esoteric / "High Imamology" view of Imamate.
  
• Jasim M. Hussain's The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam (A Historical Background)
  
• Andrew J. Newman's The Formative Period of Twelver Shi'ism: Hadith as Discourse Between Qum and Baghdad
  
• Meir M. Bar-Asher's Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imami Shiism
  
  The Buyid, Seljuq, and Mongol Eras
  
  
• Martin J. McDermott's The Theology of al-Shaikh al-Mufid (d. 413/1022)
  
• Devin J. Stewart's Islamic Legal Orthodoxy. Some people have reservations about this book, so you might want to look at some reviews. It covers the Shi'i school of Shaykh Tusi engaging in juristic legal borrowing from the Shafi'i Sunni school, if I'm not mistaken.
  
• Etan Kohlberg's A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work: Ibn Tawus and His Library. This is perhaps a little different from most other books on this list in scope, style, and focus.
  
  The Safavid Era and the Scholars of Jabal Amil
  
  
• Rula Abisaab's Converting Persia: Religion and Power in the Safavid Empire
  
• Robert Gleave's Scripturalist Islam: The History and Doctrines of the Akhbari Shi'i School
  
  The Iranian Interregnum Era
  
  
• Zachary M. Heern's The Emergence of Modern Shi'ism: Islamic Reform in Iraq and Iran
  
• Robert Gleave's Inevitable Doubt: Two Theories of Shi'i Jurisprudence. This is definitely worth a look if you're interested in details concerning Shi'i legal theory proper.
  
  The Qajar Era
  
  
• Hamid Algar's Religion and State in Iran 1785-1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period. This book is about fifty years old now, but I think it's still the standard reference for this topic.
  
• Meir Litvak's Shi'i Scholars of Nineteenth-Century Iraq: The 'Ulama' of Najaf and Karbala'
  
  The Contemporary Era / Miscellaneous
  
  
• Liyakat Nathani Takim's Shi'ism in America. I said I'd stay away from the more geographically focused books, but I think this one in particular might appeal to a lot of people; mainly those living in the West in general, and North America in particular.
  
  
• Linda S. Walbridge's The Thread of Mu'awiya: The Making of a Marja' Taqlid. A book with a strange title about the foremost Shi'i scholars in the contemporary age; while published posthumously in the 2010s, the book is based on research conducted in the 1990s. I think it contains a lot of valuable information and an interesting perspective, but I also find some of it to be informed by lazy misconceptions or generalizations, although I'm quite sure the author would have substantially reworked this project had she lived longer.
  
• Ata Anzali's Mysticism in Iran: The Safavid Roots of a Modern Concept. This should provide information on irfan.
  
• Kamran Scot Aghaie's The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi'i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran. This covers the evolution of the Karbala narrative in Modern Iran (in the Qajar, Pahlavi, and post-Revolutionary eras, respectively).
  
• Matthew Pierce's Twelve Infallible Men: The Imams and the Making of Shi'ism. This book examines how the genre of the biographies of the Imams was formed (this may be a better fit in one of the above categories, but I'm less familiar with this book, so I'm not sure which era(s) is/are the focus).

Hi there. I perfectly understand about being surrounded by sunnis. The only English speaking speaker I really liked listening to and didn't give me that dodgy feeling was Hassanain Rajabali.

If you are starting from zero, I think you should start with a biography of the prophet if you haven't already read one and understood it. I'm not sure which one to recommend here, I've mostly read these kind of books in Arabic, so maybe someone can jump in.

A couple of book recommendations:

Ghadir by S. Muhammad Baqir As-Sadr. (a series of essays on the topic of wilaya which discuss the inherent logic of it quite well).

Early Shi'i Thought by Arzina Lalani, is a short read that I thought did a great job of highlighting points of interest on early shi'i discussions, gave a good historical background on the shia/sunni split and highlights several interesting hadiths and aspects about the fifth Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (as).

I have to run to a meeting now, but I'll add more recommended reads later tonight.

Edit:

More recommended reads! (Disclaimer: I do my reading in Arabic generally, but I'm relying on al-islam.org since they have a large database of translated books. Also, it's free and I assume you might be on a student budget. From the highlights I read, they seem to do a good job translating).

Read dua's from Imam Ali Zayn al 'Abiddeen's (as) Sahifa Sajjadiya. In particular, I recommend dua #20, Makarimul Akhlaq (Honorable Morals), and the 15 whispered prayers. These are incredible lessons from the imam (as) that come in the form of a supplication. I learned a lot about what it means to be a muslim and what my relationship with Allah (swt) is supposed to be like just from reading and contemplating on the meaning of these duas.

A Bundle of Flowers is a really nice collection of selected hadiths organized by topic.

There are two books by Moojan Momen

Shi'i Islam: A Beginner's Guide

and

Introduction to Shi'i Islam

The first one is a relatively short book, but thorough. The second on is a VERY detailed and long book, and honestly still the best there is as far as I am concerned.

Of course neither of these are nearly as readable as Lesley Hazelton, who writes more like a novelist and less like an academic, so her writing is easier, albeit less packed with information. But where Hazelton gets you a great overview, Momen will give you amazing detail.

Jumu'ah Mubarak

Today's Ayah for Friday, 2016-11-18 / 18 Safar 1438

God makes it all good news for you so that your hearts will be at peace in Him. Victory is only from God, the Almighty, the Wise.

God meant this as a message of hope and assurance for your hearts, so you would know that victory is only from God. God is Almighty and Wise.

-- al-Imran 3:126 an al-Anfal 8:10 as rendered by Safi Kaskas

وَمَا جَعَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بُشْرَىٰ لَكُمْ وَلِتَطْمَئِنَّ قُلُوبُكُم بِهِ وَمَا النَّصْرُ إِلَّا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ


وَمَا جَعَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بُشْرَىٰ وَلِتَطْمَئِنَّ بِهِ قُلُوبُكُمْ وَمَا النَّصْرُ إِلَّا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ

http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/3/126/ and http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/8/10/

(please share)


Study the Qur'an to understand what the good news is.

> Does this mean that the shias agree with the temporal authority of Abubakkar or do they believe that the temporal and spiritual authority should have gone to Hazrat Ali.

Again, you have to ask yourself, does it matter what a group of people believe now about what happened in the history? If yes, than you have to ask, to serve what purpose? We can't change the history now, can we? So the question, whether Shia's agree or disagree with the temporal authority of Abu Bakr, is a non-starter, because technically there is no choice. What we all know that Imam Ali accepted the role of third Caliph which has its own implication. However, Imam Ali's spiritual authority is a foundational matter for all Shi'as and Sufis in Islam and there is no doubt about that.

> Could it have been possibly that the common people of that time mis/interpreted the hadith of the pond to have meant that Hazrat Ali was given spiritual authority, and so they felt no ill intent when allowing Abubakkar to take over the temporal authority?

Possibly yes, or no. I have no idea. What matters is what we believe today, i.e, the living people.

> Currently I am trying to form a coherent picture of what happened then, preferably some picture that can satisfy both sides of the story to some degree.

Yes, there is no better and current source out there than The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate.

Here's a link to Amazon which has description and comments.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Succession-Muhammad-Study-Caliphate/dp/0521646960

1. Yes Sharia is recognized by the shia, however I advise you to select a marja and direct your specific sharia/fiqh questions towards him. Ayatollah Sistani has a pretty available website and you can even send in and ask specific questions.
   
   
2. I don't think that it is expressly a sin to not go to a mosque or hussenia in the way that it is a sin to skip your prayers or not fast in Ramadan. However, the sense of community and exposing yourself to lectures/majalis can be very important for spiritual growth, and is important. At least it has been in my experience.
   
   
3. It is absolutely okay to visit a Sunni mosque. There is no restriction in shia islam against visiting a sunni mosque. Depending on the Sunni mosque, they might not be receptive to you, but I have never experienced this.
   
   
4. My saturday school used this book. http://www.amazon.com/Know-Your-Islam-Yousuf-Lalljee/dp/0940368021 Its pretty basic. A quick google search for "Shia History English Stories" gave me this site http://www.ghadeer.org/english/default.html. It has some history its not terribly extensive, but usually googling will get you a good amount of information.
   
   You can also google a topic and the name of a scholar. In my opinion Ammar Nakshwani and Hasnain Rajabali are reliable and straightforward. https://www.google.com/search?q=hasnain+rajabali&oq=hasnain+rajabali&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3207j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8
   
   
5. I don't know, I don't speak arabic. Sorry.
   
   
6. The specific months of Mourning are Muharram and Safar and the first 8 days of Rabi-ul-Awwal. You will find differences among shia's based on the culture they come from. Inconsistencies between the methods of mourning do not mean one is more correct than the other. This calendar has specific dates and events: http://www.al-khoei.org/OnlineServices/CalendarEvents.aspx
   
   
7. There isn't that much of a difference but I don't know a ton about sunni prayers so I don't feel qualified to outline them for you.
   
   Feel free to send me any questions you have. Just know that I AM NOT EVEN REMOTELY A SCHOLAR. I'm just someone that tries to be shia.
   
   

In terms of academic works, a few more to take a look at would be The Charismatic Community: Shi'ite Identity in Early Islam by Maria Massi Dakake, God's Caliph: Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam by Patricia Crone and Martin Hinds, The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate by Wilferd Madelung, and The Origins of the Shī'a: Identity, Ritual, and Sacred Space in Eighth-Century Kūfa by Najam Haider. None of these I would give my 100% approval too, but they are interesting historical takes on the topic in a more critical fashion than you'll often find.

Know Your Islam by Yousuf N. Lalljee is an excellent resource for learning the basic practices in Shia Islam. Try to pick up a copy if you can.