Before I dive into this topic, let me first say that I am not an Expanded Universe (EU) expert. In fact, I started reading the EU novels earlier this year. This entry is my attempt at making sense of the enormous scope of the EU. I'm not a big comic book reader nor do I play a lot of video games, so my focus will be on the novels (excluding Young Adult books).

The New Repulic era consists of a twenty year span after Return of the Jedi (5 to 25 years After the Battle of Yavin). This is also the first era in which the Expanded Universe grew. In the 1970s and 1980s, Star Wars novels were limited to renditions of the original trilogy movies and a couple of trilogies on the adventures of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. There was also a New Hope sequel of sorts called Splinter of the Mind's Eye. These works precede the New Republic era.

In the early 1990s, Lucasfilm decided to continue the Star Wars story through novels and comic books by awarding licensing rights to Bantam-Spectra and Dark Horse Comics. The New Republic era began with a bang in May 1991 with Timothy Zahn's first book in the Thrawn Trilogy - Heir to the Empire. It quickly began a New York Times bestseller and re-assured Lucasfilm that there indeed was still a strong interest in this galaxy far, far away. The other two books, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command also sold very well. Considering its significance in the EU and its great popularity, the Thrawn Trilogy is required reading for this era and for the EU in general.

After this first Zahn trilogy, to quote Qui-Gon Jinn, things get a lot more complicated. As the EU was forming during this decade an effort to keep an accurate and consistent timeline and story arcs was made. However, the books were not published in chronological order. For example, Isard's Revenge, which is the eighth book in the X-Wing Series was one of the last EU books published by Bantam (April 1999) and yet it takes place right after the Thrawn Trilogy. To further add to the complexity, Dell-Rey replaced Bantam as the licensed publisher of Star Wars novels and has started making its own contributions to the New Republic era: Tatooine Ghost, Survivor's Quest, and a couple of ebooks.

So you have two choices to make. You can read them in the order in which they were published or the order of the EU timeline. Wikipedia has an excellent page on the EU timeline of novels. If you want the published order, you will find my attempt below. I've taken the dates from Amazon.Com and tried to use hardcover publish dates whenever available (or applicable). Also, I have grouped trilogies together and placed them with the publish date of the first book. Thus, some books aren't precisely in chronological order as you can see. One advantage of reading them in publishing order is that you see how the EU continuity developed (or was challenged).

I have put in bold those books that are (or should be) good books based on my own reading, Amazon ratings, or word-of-mouth. Of course, you should be the ultimate judge of what you like!

Bantam-Spectra Books

Thrawn Trilogy
Heir to the Empire (May 91)
Dark Force Rising (May 92)
Last Command (May 93)

Truce at Bakura (Nov 93)

Jedi Academy Trilogy
Jedi Search (Feb 94)
Dark Apprentice (Jun 94)
Champions of the Force (Sep 94)

Crystal Star (Nov 94)
Courtship of Princess Leia (94)

Corellian Trilogy
Ambush at Corellia (Feb 95)
Assault at Selonia (Jun 95)
Showdown at Centerpoint (Sep 95)

Callista Trilogy
Children of the Jedi (Apr 95)
Darksaber (Oct 95)
Planet of Twilight (Mar 97)

Tales from Mos Eisley (Jul 95)
Tales from Jabba's Palace (Dec 95)

X-Wing Series: Rogue Squadron
Rogue Squadron (Jan 96)
Wedge's Gamble (May 96)
Krytos Trap (Sep 96)
Bacta War (Jan 97)

Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy
Before the Storm (Mar 96)
Shield of Lies (Aug 96)
Tyrant's Test (Dec 96)

Shadows of the Empire (Apr 96)
New Rebellion (Nov 96)
Tales of the Bounty Hunters (Nov 96)

Han Solo Trilogy
Paradise Snare (May 97)
Hutt Gambit (Aug 97)
Rebel Dawn (Mar 98)

Tales from Empire (Nov 97)

Hand of Thrawn Duology
Specter of the Past (Nov 97)
Vision of the Future (Sep 98)

X-Wing Series: Wraith Squadron
Wraith Squadron (Feb 98)
Iron Fist (Jul 98)
Solo Command (?)

I, Jedi (May 98)

Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy
Mandalorian Armor (Jun 98)
Slave Ship (Oct 98)
Hard Merchandise (Jul 99)

X-Wing Series
Isard's Revenge (Apr 99)
Starfighters of Adumar (Aug 99)

Tales from New Republic (Dec 99)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_books