But yes, that about sums it up for me, alright.

Hm, I was in much the same position at the time... I did spend a while during my first playthrough to read through all the books you come across, but honestly, only a small handful (including, unsurprisingly, the ones called "History of Amn" are at all relevant to the game at hand.

You don't really need to know that much of the lore to understand the plot of the game, though, considering that Irenicus blindsides most other factions in the game as well, and they're almost as much in the dark as you are - answers about him and his plans will only really come near the end of the game (not counting the expansion). And as far as backstory from BG1 goes, that is really very simple: Bhaal is an evil god who was taken out but survived in a way by spreading his essence over a number of mortals, of which you are one, and in BG1 you went and had to save the world from another one of those "Bhaalspawn" called Sarevok, whom you eventually managed to kill with the help of a number of characters (a good number of the NPCs in BG2 were available in BG too), including your foster sister Imoen. After which you are kidnapped and find yourself in that dungeon at the start of BG2. If you make it as far as the expansion, you'll get a chance to resurrect Sarevok and get him on your side, at which point some of that backstory will be fleshed out.

Harpers are essentially a secret society that supposedly tries to maintain the balance of power between good and evil, but generally ends up fighting evil, and Jaheira's a member. There's some quests that will give you more insight into that too (try going to the Docks in Athkatla for those).

Heh, yes, Dragon Age seems like it'd be pretty cool as a more advanced version of NWN, when I finally get around to buying a more advanced computer I'll be sure to get it.