If you want to pick up one volume to help you in your Bible studies, your best move might be to get the ESV Study Bible. The study notes are very, very good. It is published by Crossway. I got a hardback for my study desk and it comes with online access to all of the materials.
Really helpful.
Genesis, as the first volume of this first section of the Bible, orients the reader to the rest of the Pentateuch, and thus to the rest of the Bible. It explains in story form the nature and character of God, and the place of man in God’s creation. It offers an analysis of sin and its consequences, and describes God’s reaction to it (and thus shows why the true religion must be redemptive). It records the call of Abraham, through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed, and traces the birth and careers of the forefathers of the nation of Israel, leading to Israel in Egypt. The fact that Yahweh is the universal Creator shows why Israel can have a message for all mankind.
Genesis divides into two major sections: (1) the primeval history of the world before Abraham (chs. 1–11); (2) the history of the patriarchs (chs. 12–50).
The proportions of the two sections are significant: essentially chapters 1–11 are setting the stage for the main drama, namely, God’s dealings with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons—the subject of chapters 12–50.
“These are the generations of . . .” (2:4; 5:1 with slight variant; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1; 36:9; 37:2). Each heading functions like a zoom lens by focusing attention on a smaller part of the total picture that has been shown in the preceding section, and the heading thus serves as an introduction to the following section. As Genesis describes how the earth’s population increases over many generations, the reader’s attention is constantly being directed toward one particular person in each generation and his descendants.