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NOTHING!!!!!

The less you know about the EU the less is can "polute" your games.  If you don't know when/how Chewie dies then you can use him however you like.  If you don't know how things are supposed to happen then whatever happens in your games is what is supposed to happen.

Now if you just want a general context of what happens in the EU you should be able find summaries of the various books and even bigger timelines of events.  You may now know what happens and maybe even when but you still don't know all of the details that are described in the books which leaves plenty of room for improvising.
    

Jul 1, 2011 -- 5:05PM, Powercat wrote:

Jul 1, 2011 -- 5:00PM, StevenO wrote:

The less you know about the EU the less is can "polute" your games.  If you don't know when/how Chewie dies then you can use him however you like.  If you don't know how things are supposed to happen then whatever happens in your games is what is supposed to happen.

I guess I should have been more clear. I want to know what people think are the best EU books, not so I can get my campaigns "right," because I run kind of my own setting, about 30 years after ROTJ, and the only things I consider "canon" for my games are the movies.

I just want to know good Star Wars books to read.

Right now, instead of any of the current books I find myself rather partial to the comics, particularly in graphic novel form. The recent Knights of the Old Republic (not to be confused with The Old Republic graphic novels that are running precursor to the MMO) series is extremely well done, and collected into about 9 or 10 volumes, and so is Star Wars Legacy series, set about 140 years after the movies. The Tales of the Jedi series from about the mid to late 90s are also amongst my all time favorites.

I find that with the graphic novels you get wildly imaginitive narratives without the necessity of having to pack god-like abilities and contrite endings into the story so that everyone's favorite character gets a bit of screen-time and never fails/dies.

As StevenO said, nothing is really required to understand the EU, however, I read all that I can get my hands on, and I encourage you to read everything you can get as well.  For me, it's all about the knowledge, because as GM I find it an indispensible resource (combined with a good memory, it helps me adjust to what players are doing and make on the fly decisions based on what I have read; quotes are fun, too; and last but not least, watching my father-in-law and wife roll their eyes when I start rattling off the statistics of every starship I see fly on the screen, right down to the number of turbolasers, TIE fighters, and crew complement  yeah, I'm a geek).

Even though you learn how the writers decided certain things should occur, most GMs tend to take liberties with canon anyway.  I've read most of the books that can be listed in the back of any Star Wars novel.  About the only ones that I haven't read are the last 3/4 of the Yuuzhan Vong (couldn't find books) and the NJO books (which I plan to read some day).  However, like StevenO also said, most of the time summaries can give you great context (like how Jacen becomes Darth Caedus). 

I really couldn't say which books are best because I love Star Wars so much, but I have found that having books or comics related to the eras that you play very helpful.  I'm running a Clone Wars campaign, and just got a new Clone Wars novel (Jedi Trial).  I haven't read it yet, but already it is helpful to me with a timeline in the front cover.

 

My favorite is I, Jedi.

One of the fan favorites is the Thrawn trilogy, although I didn't think it was great.

Stay away from most of the post-Endor EU, especially the Vong Wars stuff and all set after that.  It's all pretty bad.