Favorite things about the EU. That there is star wars beyond return of the jedi, my favorite characters from the oot films are represented, it moved the story beyond ROTJ and not backwards.
That Luke actually becomes a Jedi master and grows as a man, and a character.
That people actually die and get old. That even if it is not talked adults in the EU universe do have sex.
Jedi men can love women, and not go evil.
They deal with issues like death, politics and religion and are far less juvenile in content than the films, well sometimes. Other times the EU books are just as bad if not worse, even giving Lucas some of his bad prequel ideas.