Does the Thrawn Trilogy count as EU? I read Heir to the Empire, and while I didn't think it was all that good (maily due to the writing style), I can close my eyes and imagine it as Episode VII. The rest of the EU is way too convoluted for me.

RE: everyone has a backstory - this is a big part of why I hate the EU. When Grievous was first introduced (via the excellent Tarkovsky Clone Wars cartoons), he didn't have an official backstory, which prompted interesting questons. Who the hell was he? Was he a droid who became self aware, and mated his frame with organic parts? Are all the live parts from the same species, or is there some mix and match going on? What's more in charge of his being - the machine or the organic? As far as I'm concerned, he didn't need a backstory, but they later gave him one, which really just made him a lot less interesting. Well, and then he got portrayed by Matthew Wood in the film, which made him stupid.