I've never really dipped very far into Star Wars books other than as a child. I have fond memories of reading the children's series "Glove of Darth Vader" and a series for kids about Anakin Solo. Also as a child, I read a few novels that closely relate to the films themselves, such as Shadows of the Empire, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and even Rogue Planet. That last one stuck with me enough that I noticed Episode II was "wrong" to show the Geonosians as the designers of the Death Star.
That's the extend of my EU novels background, though I've tried a few times to pick up post-ROTJ stories. I'd like to, at a somewhat leisurely pace, pad out the wait for Episode VII with some of the essential post-ROTJ books in roughly chronological order. I have little time for reading, but manage to cram a ton of podcasts into my life, so I could replace that with (abridged) Star Wars audiobooks in spurts. If a typical abridged audiobook is around 3 hours, I could easily listen to many of them. (If I go with unabridged or sitting down with physical books, this whole endeavor would not be feasible. I would not dream of approaching an abridged copy of Lord of the Rings, but this is Star Wars and there is a lot to get through.)
Here are the books I've gathered as being recommended as essential, or important in regards to ongoing plot. Please affirm the ones that should be read, suggest new ones, or de-suggest poor ones I may have listed. Assuming three hours apiece and two years to go for Episode VII, this could be halfway fun.
Truce at Bakura
The Courtship of Princess Leia
Rogue Squadron (#1)
Wraith Squadron
Tatooine Ghost (This one sounded interesting when it came out, synthesizing the PT and OT)
The Thrawn Trilogy (If I read nothing else, this seems to be the most important)
I, Jedi (Could this book be representative of the Jedi Academy trilogy for efficiency reasons?)
The Crystal Star
Hand of Thrawn Duology
Survivor's Quest
NJO - Vector Prime
NJO - Balance Point
NJO - Star by Star
NJO - Traitor
NJO - Destiny's Way
NJO - The Unifying Force
Betrayal
Crucible