Lioness, with regards to forgotten Realms and the Drizzt saga. The chronological order of these is as follows:
THE DARK ELF TRILOGY
Homeland
Exile
Sojourn
THE ICEWIND DALE TRILOGY
The Chrystal Shard
Streams Of Silver
The Halflings Gem
LEGACY OF THE DROW QUARTET
Legacy
Starless Night
Siege Of Darkness
Passage To Dawn
There is also a follow up series to these books which is not based on Drizzt but tells the stories of his enemies/allies from these earlier stories.
PATHS OF DARKNESS
The Silent Blade - Drizzt is in this book and it is mainly about his rivalry with Artemis Entreri.
Spine Of The World - The story of Wulfgars battle against insanity.
Servant Of The Shard - Tells more of Jarlaxle and Entreri's partnership and does not feature Drizzt though he is referred to constantly.
Sea Of Swords - Not yet published
The Avater trilogy occurs during the legacy of the drow quartet and there is a reference to this in there. The Darkwalker on Moonshae set of books are probably among the earliest FR books written and were the first ones I read. Also, the Threat From The Sea Trilogy is a great read. For more info go to
http://www.wizards.com/books/main.as...orgottenrealms
This will give you a good idea of the core reads in the FR setting