alot of people probably wont agree with me, but the starwars novels are actually pretty good, the ones that arent clone wars related. I recommend, the new jedi order, the legacy of the force, thrawn trilogy, and the news one i forget the series name but they are like on book 3 or 4, its great as well.
oh and for authers, troy denning, james lucinco, tim zhan, are all awesome, so check out there other works.