The Thrawn trilogy for sure!
If there can be only one, that's it. Superb work, both in terms of characters and writing.
However, as also suggested, the "Tales Of" short stories are loads of fun, too.
What classic Star Wars Expanded Universe would you recommend I read?
How could I forget to mention, Shakespeare's Star Wars IS A MUST
Can't emphasize enough how much I hated the Jedi Academy Trilogy. It felt like fan fiction from the start and while it shows an important point in the EU - the creation of Luke's Jedi Academy - it does it in the most outlandish way possible.
Want an example how? See below.
Force ghosts are apparently harmed by lightsabers... all of my what? And that final assault the Death Star Prototype is basically a lazily written version of the Second Death Star attack. And the references to the original trilogy just scream "Look at me! I'm a reference!" right down to the direct quotations of original dialogue.
Exar Kun was a fun villain, though. I liked his ability to possess Jedi.
Either start with this one to get it out of the way, or else save it till last so I, Jedi can fill you in on the important bits and you can decide whether or not to continue the story.
I seem to remember The New Rebellion being very good. Though if I were to read it again so many years later perhaps I would feel differently.
Thrawn trilogy and Allston's XWing books are the only ones I recommend. The rest takes a true fan to really stomach or ignore the faults. That doesn't mean they don't have great or memorable moments and characters though... I love Daala for instance but hate the books she is in.
Read some real science fiction. If it absolutely has to be space opera, try E.E. Smith.
He's asking about Star Wars specifically, Rumar. Telling him to read real science fiction is kind of rude, especially when he likely already reads the real stuff and is interested in learning more about this universe.
Can't emphasize enough how much I hated the Jedi Academy Trilogy. It felt like fan fiction from the start and while it shows an important point in the EU - the creation of Luke's Jedi Academy - it does it in the most outlandish way possible.
Either start with this one to get it out of the way, or else save it till last so I, Jedi can fill you in on the important bits and you can decide whether or not to continue the story.
Why bother reading the trilogy at all? Just go to Wookieepedia and read a summary of the story. Will take far less time and you'll spare yourself the ordeal. Daala was probably the only good thing to emerge from that trilogy.
Can't emphasize enough how much I hated the Jedi Academy Trilogy. It felt like fan fiction from the start and while it shows an important point in the EU - the creation of Luke's Jedi Academy - it does it in the most outlandish way possible.
Either start with this one to get it out of the way, or else save it till last so I, Jedi can fill you in on the important bits and you can decide whether or not to continue the story.
Why bother reading the trilogy at all? Just go to Wookieepedia and read a summary of the story. Will take far less time and you'll spare yourself the ordeal. Daala was probably the only good thing to emerge from that trilogy.
Reading the summary of a story is usually a completely different thing from reading the story itself.
Edited by DarnokWarriorpoet, dont get into Shadows of the Empire unless you read the comic and the book and play the game. Theose diffrent mediums were made to compliment eachother. The book is basically Lukes part of the SOTE story arc. The comic is Boba Fetts while the game is Dash Rendars. Dash is Jack Burton so dont skip the game!
Also they did the same thing just about for Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2. The comic is all sbout Boba Fett and the game is about clone 11XX.
If we are talking comic books, my favorites are any of the Tales of the Jedi or Knights of the Old Republic series(old and new) They tell the story of the Republic, Jedi, Sith, and Mandalorians about 5000 to 4000 years BBY. There are some great characters introduced(Naga Sadow, Odan Urr, Empress Teta, Exam Kun, Ulic Qel Droma, Nomi Sunrider, Zayne Carrick, etc.) and some great and original stories are told(Great Hyperspace War, Sith War, The Taris Padawan Massacre, etc.) They are all collected in Trade Paperbacks, the art work is generally pretty good(there are some exceptions) and they are well written. Definitely worth a check out if you are at all interested in the ancient history of the Star Wars universe.
And my favorite Star Wars comics more in the timeframe of the movies are Jango Fett: Open Seasons and Darth Maul. Both tell more of the back stories/previous adventures of the title characters and are both very good comics. (And now that I think about Darth Maul, the novel, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter is very good and really helps set up Episode one from the "Sith" side of things)
The Thrawn trilogy for sure!
This.
Then stop. It's all basically gone now anyway.
I have read every book that takes place after Jedi. I am working on all the prequel stuff. Some are definitely better than others but I found enough enjoyment from most to make them a worthwhile read.
Love the Thrawn trilogy. It mirrors the style of the OT movies. Several events taking place simultaneously with the author cutting back and forth between the different scenes until everything comes together at the end.
Loved all the X-Wing books but agree with most in this thread that Allston does the best work.
Loved all the short story collections.
Kevin J Andersen's Jedi Trilogy, stand alone books and The Young Jedi Knights series all create great characters and stories that I loved. He has this thing that he does though. He assumes you have forgotten everything you read in his previous books - and in some cases a few chapters ago - and so he does a lot of recapping. His trilogy could be told in 2 books without losing anything from the plot.
Never, ever, ever read Crystal Star (Vonda McIntyre is an award winning scifi author but this one hurt to read) or Children of the Jedi (if you need to know who Calista is later, just use wookiepedia.)
I'm reading the comic adaptation of the Thrawn Trilogy. It's super fun. 
Warriorpoet, dont get into Shadows of the Empire unless you read the comic and the book and play the game. Theose diffrent mediums were made to compliment eachother. The book is basically Lukes part of the SOTE story arc. The comic is Boba Fetts while the game is Dash Rendars. Dash is Jack Burton so dont skip the game!
Also they did the same thing just about for Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2. The comic is all sbout Boba Fett and the game is about clone 11XX.
I had no idea. Can't wait to read the SOTE comic now, thank you
X-Wing: Rogue Squadron was the fifth Star Wars novel I read after reading the Lando Calrissian Adventures trilogy turned me off reading Star Wars novels for a few years and while I liked the others it is definitely my favorite of those 5. I like the entire series but the second, third, and last novels are my least favorites from it. I was expecting the last book to be more like Iron Fist which I loved and felt it needed more space and air combat if they were putting the X-Wing title on it.. It wasn't a bad book but it was a horrible X-Wing novel that felt like it just had the X-Wing title on it to draw fans of the old series.
Edited by RogueCorona