Yeah, no single book could capture everything that the movies captured, you have to pick and choose elements to focus on. For example, Children of the Jedi, despite being heavily derided, provided a wonderful look at how Jedi may have lived before the prequels made them into an oppressive baby-kidnapping cult.
Haha, I read that book so many times because I got it at a library book sale and it was one of the few bits of Star Wars EU I owned, all of which I read until it was dogeared and crumbling.
At the time, it was really deeply interesting to see remnants of the Old Republic.