Good Reads

My oh my; so many to read. I don't really care how good they are (though that would be a plus), I just want to be knowledgeable on a variety of characters.

Is I, Jedi worth reading or is the Jedi Academy Trilogy better? I want to read the whole Exar Kun fiasco.

I, Jedi is definitely a better read than any of the JA books.

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
The Force Awakens Novelization
Death Star
Shadow Games
RotS Novelization obviously

If you want something light-hearted and fun, then read Knight Errant. Unfortunately, it won't improve your debating skills at all.

My favorite Star Wars novels so far have been:

Shatterpoint
Path of Destruction (from the Darth Bane trilogy)
Dark Rendezvous
Plagueis

The above books also have good Legends feats and accolades for PT characters.

Shatterpoint

Seconded. Basically anything from Mathew Stover is good.

Shatterpoint
Revenge of the Sith
Shadows of Mindor
NJO: Traitor

Path of Destruction (from the Darth Bane trilogy)

It was better than the other two in the series. It's not really fantastic, though.

Dark Rendezvous

Great read, did an excellent job with the major characters (Yoda, Dooku, Anakin, etc.), but, just like in TUF, a lot of it's original characters I didn't care for.

Plagueis

Slow, but it was a pretty good read.

Pretty much anything from Stover and Luceno. Dark Rendezvous is also incredibly good.

I've seen mentions for Death Star and I, Jedi, which are also very good. The Thrawn Trilogy and Bane trilogy (or at least PoD) are somewhat overrated but generally still must-reads. I suppose the Revan novel is also important in terms of context, but it's terribly written.

I'm going to read the Legacy of the Force series before Fate of the Jedi series. Is there a series I should read before Legacy of the Force so that it makes better sense chronologically?

Unless you're up to date on the NR/NJO works, skipping ahead straight into the Legacy era is not a good idea. At least, read the DNT trilogy since it's by the same god-awful Troy Denning who also writes in LotF and FotJ, unfortunately.

Okay so I'll do in the following order:
Shadows of the Empire
The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy
The truce at Bakura
Luke Skywalker an the Shadows of Mindor
X-wing series
The Courtship of Princess Leia
A Forest Apart
Tatooine Ghost
The Thrawn Trilogy
The Dark Empire Trilogy

and whatever comes after that.

Wow I feel like such a noob.

Tell me if any of these are a massive waste of time and won't provide me with debating info.

Shadows of the Empire and Bounty Hunter Wars won't do you much good on that front.

I see Prince xizor being mentioned in KMC; what about learning more about Boba? Not all debates involve jedi and sith.

Shadows of the Empire is worth the read. I dunno about BHW/X-Wing/Forest/Tatooine.

Old Canon: Shadows of the Empire, Darth Plaugeis

New canon: Heir to the Jedi, Battlefront: Twilight Company