I figured this thread would be a good place to post this.

At some point in the near future I plan on doing an extensive read-through of most pre-Prequel Trilogy content. I’ve had the strong desire to read the books informed solely by the Original Trilogy, to experience the franchise as from a time that was a bit before my own time. The Phantom Menace came out when I was only 8 years old and I hadn’t even become modestly well-read until I was probably 23. Also, being that I consider the Original trilogy the only true Star Wars story of the films, it makes sense to me not include any post-EP 1 released content, even if set around A New Hope or onwards. I don’t want anything where the author heavily considered any of the prequels during the writing process their book. The list of novels I tentatively will be reading is as follows:

Han Solo Trilogy:
The Paridise Snare
The Hutt Gambit
Rebel Dawn

Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye

Shadows of the Empire

The Truce at Bakura

X-Wing:
Rogue Squadron
Wedge’s Gamble
The Krytos Trap
The Bacta War

The Courtship of Princess Leia

Thrawn Trilogy:
Heir to the Empire
Dark Force Rising
The Last Command

I, Jedi

Children of the Jedi

Darksaber

Planet of Twilight

Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy:
Before the Storm
Shield of Lies
Tyrant’s Test

The New Rebellion

The Corellian Trilogy:
Ambush at Corellia
Assault at Selonia
Showdown at Centerpoint

The Hand of Thrawn Duology:
Specter of the Past
Vision of the Future

The reason I’m posting this is that I know there some books here less warmly received than others and I’d really appreciate any Star Wars veterans to give me a bit of advice on what I should maybe skip (and what they’d consider essential). These are all pre-Phantom Menace, but it’s still quite a sizable amount of books to buy and read through and I’d like to maybe not waste as much time and money as I might. I should maybe note that there is “skippable bad” and “it’s bad, but some really important stuff happens in this book” and I’d prefer to not miss anything that’s maybe too important for the setup of other stories, even if the quality of the book is on the poor side.