Lit What to Read? (essential books)

Hi, I'm new, and I like Star Wars. I've seen all the movies, but I would like some sort of broader knowledge of the Expanded Universe. I have a busy schedule so I can't read all the books in chronological order. Instead, I would like a short list of books to gain some understanding of the Universe. So far, I found this:

The Old Republic: Deceived
Republic Commando: Hard Contact
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Death Troopers
Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
X-Wing: Rogue Squadron
Heir to the Empire
New Jedi Order: Vector Prime
Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Crosscurrent
[From here]

My plan is to read that sampling. Then, if I really like them and want to learn more, I'll do more, including the Thrawn trilogy. My question is - Are there any other books that are 1) good literature/fun to read and 2) helpful to understand that I should add to the above list?

Thank you!


Edit: I just found this thread [facepalm]. I think I'll combine the two lists

 

The Thrawn trilogy is a good starting point because it assumes the reader has read no other novels because they didn't exist yet. For the prequel era, I think Cloak of Deception and Darth Plagueis are two good novels to gain some insight into what was going on behind the scenes.

For post film, I'd definitely recommend Mindor, the Thrawn trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology, and the New Jedi Order series.

There's a lot of other stuff that's good, but those are sort of the bookends to the film saga for me.

Oh, and the novel Rogue Planet, set a few years after Episode I, is useful for the NJO series as well.

 

Those novels may make a good sample set of everything, but they are almost all parts of series. The X-Wing series for example is perhaps my favourite part of the EU but, Rogue Squadron alone really is just an introduction to the series. The most important event in the series and perhaps the most important post-Endor event in the series actually occurs in book 2, the aftermath of which is dealt with in books 3 an 4. Vector prime is part of a 19 book arc, although it functions quite well as a stand alone, reading Legacy of the Force: Betrayal and Crosscurrent will be difficult when your missing 21/30 books (respectively) before them. The lack of the second two books of the Thrawn Trilogy (Starts with Heir to the Empire) is also strange because the Thrawn trilogy is pretty much one story in three parts.

Personally for a good overview of the star wars EU I would add:
Darth Plageuis (Leads in to episode 1 and explains Palpatines origins)
Labyrinth of Evil (Leads into Episode 3)
Han Solo trilogy (Leads into episode 4 and explains Hans back story) (Book 1 has the most back story making it the must read if you can only read 1, book 2 introduces Chewie, book 3 is awesome)
Shadows of the Empire (Set in the gap you never knew existed between Episode 5 and 6)
i, Jedi (Not a personal favourite of mine but it covers the events of the Jedi Academy Trilogy in a single book. Max Efficiency!)

While I wouldn't recommend it, the bare minimum NJO books would be:
Vector Prime (The introduction)
Star by Star (The darkest Hour)
Traitor (A damn good Book)
The Unifying force (The conclusion)

 

I second Labyrinth of Evil and Shadows of the Empire, and would add Destiny's Way to the NJO list, although I think the good definitely outweighs the bad in a full reading.

 

Question: is the New Jedi Order Series as listed on Wookieepedia here what you recommend? I.e. 24 more books not including Vector Prime on my list? That's a lot - may not read them at first.

However at first I'll read the 5 stated by above two posts including Vector Prime.

 

Several of them are short stories only 19 full books, also feel free to skip Boba Fett A Practical Man as it is actually related to the pretty bad LOTF series, not to the NJO.
I also recommend that you at least first read the Thrawn Triology and a few of the X-Wing books before going into the New Jedi Order books.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

Here's what I'll do. I will start with the Thrawn trilogy. If I kind of like the books, I'll continue with the 10 I posted. Otherwise, if I'm really interested, I'll read all 40 books mentioned above and in that thread I found, in-universe chronological order. With the whole NJO it would be 54, and this will take >2 years so I can read other stuff.

---> May I ask what is it about the 19-book New Jedi Order series that makes people recommend it so much? Are the books good fiction works?

 

New Jedi Order is basically one huge connected story about a war that happens after the Rebels and Imperials made peace. What makes it special is that though it had a large number of different authors they all worked closely together to tell the story of the war, it also features many characters and locations from previous Star Wars works and shows how these are affected by this new menace. It is also very special for brining a total new enemy for the people of the galaxy, whilst in most other works they would be busy fighting some kind of evil force user or Remnants of the Empire, whilst being notably grimmer then many previous works though still keeps the general hope and redemption theme from the SW movies. In short an epic space saga in book form.

 

I super recommend Dark Lord- Rise of Darth Vader. It's an interesting follow-up to Revenge of the the Sith.

Speaking of which, I also highly recommend the ROTS novel. It was great literature and explored my favorite characters, Anakin and Grievous, better than the movies did.

 

Strange list- basically, 'read the first book of every series'. I'd read the Thrawn Trilogy first, if anything. It's the most accessible to a film-watcher, IMO, no alien invasions or dimension-hopping monsters. If you just want to read a Star Wars novel, read Edge of Victory I: Conquest.

 

Thanks again. Now I'm in good shape for whichever level of interest I may be in, after reading the Thrawn trilogy:

9 more books option (my posted list)
20 more books option (General Un-Co's additions)
52 more books option (all recommendations) (this will take me more than 2 years)

 

its a good collection u gave him there but i would not say "labyrinth of evil" is a "should-read book". I did not find it very good and too many questions popped up after reading it regarding the following E3.
"Dath Plageuis" i would also change to "Darth Bane". For anyone starting EU i think it is very boring to read about the "Plageuis" story and one can more easily start with the question "why are there only 2 sith in the movies but 10000 of jedi?" (which btw brought me to the EU, too)
HanSolo, y 3 entertaining books, Shadow of the empire...well y sure why not..but i always loved new happenstances in the books instead of going into the "mood-books"(in which nothing big happens for EU)..instead of" Shadows of the empire" why not "The Courtship of Princess Leia"? in this one Leia and Han finally come together for real and its a great story.

I, Jedi, is one of my personal favs!!! it has everything and can easily be read by someone new the EU. It has this Xwing series feeling and starfights, tells another perspective of those events happening in "Jedi Academy" in which Luke finally comes around and starts training new jedis and has a little bit of this training-getting stronger-superhuman kind of feeling for me. ..but thats me

The NJO list seems quite on the point...nothing else to say only that of those 19 books i kind of disliked maybe 2 max...not even dislike..more like those i have read only 3-5 times