Well, I fell in love with Star Wars at a very young age. With three years between films, and then no more films, and between/after I was ravenous for more content. I even think the underlying story of the Holiday special works, even if the execution was awful, and would love to see Dave Filoni revisit it in animated form. I read one copy of Han Solo at Stars' End to death and had to replace it. Splinter of the Mind's Eye was utterly engrossing (despite the climax that didn't work vis a vis ESB). Marvel's comics were a bit like the Clone Wars is for me -- some really good stories and elements mixed in among a lot of stuff I could take or leave (often preferably leave). Then in the late '80s and early '90s, I had the role-playing game. And for all the stuff West End Games screwed up or I really tried to ignore, they also introduced some really, really cool ideas and designs.
So I was one of the ones primed for the "Star Wars Renaissance" of the early-to-mid '90s, but also one of those who felt Dark Empire and Heir to the Empire didn't quite capture... "it". Some good bits, yeah, but more "Iiiiiiii don't know about that..." squinty-eyes moments than I had with anything but the old comics (Marvel and newspaper). But then the Tales of the Jedi comics started and more than made up for it.
Yeah, I've been following the EU for the entire duration, and am better-versed than many in what worked and what didn't -- the stuff I'm glad is jettisoned, and the stuff I hope makes it [back] into canon.
--Jonah