You hit the main point that is giving me so much trouble. You see, I can't have it both ways. Those novels can't be both authorized and not canon. It's either they are not authorized and not canon or they are authorized and canon.

And yet they have been authorised but not canon. Think of them as a 'what if?' universe all of their own.

I don't see how the NFL analogy has any relevance.  It's a continuation of a story, not the same story being told over and over again with differing results (like different games of football).  I never followed the novels, so I don't have any preconceptions about how the new trilogy's story will go.  I can't imagine most Star Wars fans are so well versed in third party stories that this is going to be a big problem.

  It's relevant because it's related to a break in continuity. Episode VII is not following the events of the Expanded Universe, but ignoring them and making new events. It is not a continuation of a story. Likewise, if the NFL created new teams to play in a Super Bowl, they would be ignoring the events that led to the Super Bowl; it would be a break in continuity.

  You're right that it's not going to be a big problem and it will only affect people like myself that have invested much time and energy following the events of the EU. In fact, it may only affect a small percentage of people like me, because not everyone sees things in black and white as I do. (As an example, my workplace made a survey to judge employee satisfaction. The survey was optional but corporate wanted a 100% participation rate. My boss asked me many times if my staff had taken the survey. I asked him why I should encourage them to take it, since it's optional. He told me that my problem is I only see things in black and white. According to my boss and the corporate people, a survey can be simultaneously optional and mandatory. Other people, I have learned, do not have problems with situations that are contradictory. Contradictions give me problems, so when I make posts here that are rational and consistent with my world-view, it is not surprising when others vehemently disagree.)

Episode 7 is a continuation of episode 6.  It's not what I consider a gray area.  If you can find a first party source that ever claimed the books would be considered canon, it would be a different matter.  Otherwise as others here have said, that's not the case.  This is the same as when other IPs are licensed, such as for video game cross-overs.  The cross-over doesn't automatically count as being canon for all involved characters' respective stories.

If what you are saying is official and authoritative, then the reality of the Star Wars franchise is not compatible with my viewpoint. I can either ignore it or change it to fit my viewpoint. I prefer to change it and consider the EU to be canon, which is why I will not watch Episode VII.

The EU wouldn't exist in the first place if it weren't for the original movie trilogy, so I find it ironic that you plan to miss out on the continuation of the movies because of the EU.

I also think it highly likely that the sequel movies will be of much higher quality than much of the EU material, though I'll admit my exposure to the EU is minimal and that's just a strong hunch.

Obviously there's no point lambasting you for your decision; you're free to spend your dollar however you like. I just think you'll be missing out.

It's clear that Jodo likes the EU material, and that's perfectly fine.  The existence of the new films should in no way lessen those stories - your EU stuff continues to exist, and if that's how you want to enjoy the Star Wars universe, great, more power to you.  But it gets pretty weird when you're absolutely resistant to whatever the new movies might offer without any basis for that sort of reaction.  You don't know if the sequel films will be good or bad yet - why be so stubborn and refuse to even entertain the idea of enjoying them?

I agree with this logic. And then I see what Terminator has turned into since T2...

I don't know, I kind of liked T3 some. I know it wasn't an ideal movie but I think everything looks good next to the mess that Salvation turned out to be.