I've read most of the FR novels over the years - it's great for getting a feel for regions of FR, although, as many have stated, not great literature.
Others have mentioned some of the better novels - Elaine Cunningham, RA Salvatore (if you like his style - I usually do), Douglas Niles.
I just wanted to mention some to avoid.
I can't think of his name, but the guy who wrote the Volo novels - Brian Thomsen I think - they are terrible. They are rip-offs, with no original ideas, and just full of bad puns. "Once around the Realms" and "The mage in the iron mask".
Also the Pool of Radience series.
In fact, I'd suggest just avoiding anything written based on a computer game, except Azure Bonds.
Although I enjoyed the Drizzt novels, I didn't like the Cleric Quintet. Well, I loved the first one - it's an adventure where you can tell the characters are only about 1st level, and they are the type I usually like. The first novel was excellent, the second was good, the third ok, the fourth bad and the fifth terrible. The main characters' rise in power was far too fast, and by the end of the series I had a bad taste in my mouth for the whole thing.
Ed Greenwood is a great man, and his world is pretty good, IMO, but his novels.... well, I find that many times in his novels I have no clue as to what actually just happened. Spells are cast without a real explaination as to what they are, etc. I often find his novels leave me bewildered at points. This has been tempered when he writes with other authors (ie Cormyr and Death of a Dragon), but his solo stuff - not really my cup of tea.
Troy Denning is also a reasonable author, but he has one weakness. He won't let his characters go. He will start a new novel with a new set of characters, but somewhere in the novel some of his previous characters will appear. This can be charming, but not when it's so forced (the worst case - he killed off a character who then reappeared in other novels as a Seraphim(?) working for his god).
HTH
Duncan
