Playing a dunmer in Skyrim, I've noticed that there are some severe gaps in my knowledge. Characters reference the explosion of Red Mountain, and what I believe is an invasion of Argonians? Obviously much has taken place.

Anyways, I have always enjoyed the somewhat unreliable knowledge that comes from rading the in-game books, so I would like some suggestions as to what books to search for, or who I should talk to. No direct spoilers please, it's more fun discovering things on one's own

Edit: Now that I think about it, my knowledge of events during Oblivion isn't that good either. I lost interest in the lore at the time, as Oblivion seemed much more bland than Morrowind. Trying to discover the truth behind ALMSIVI and the dwemer's disappearance was great.

well besides in game books you should definitely read the novels The Infernal City & Lord of Souls if you haven't already.
there on amazon

In-game books make almost no mention of the fate of Morrowind, sadly. There's one quest that involves finding a Telvanni's journal, and some dialogue, but beyond that, they don't tell you much.

So they are just referencing events from the books? Bummer. Guess I will have to track them down. Hopefully they are decent.

Oh and yeah, I did read those Telvanni journals, they actually prompted this question.

I think the Telvanni got what they deserved though.

i read both of the books and they were good.

Actually, the game doesn't reference any events from those novels. But both the novels and the game make references to new, post Oblivion, lore (the Red Year, the Mede Dynasty, etc).

how many years separate the games Morrowind and Skyrim?

The ingame books you should read are "The Great War" and the "A Rising Threat" series; they shed much light on Tamrielic current events over the past two centuries.

I was rather disappointed when I read the book A Short History of Morrowind in Skyrim and it was, to my knowledge, completely unchanged from the same in-game book in Morrowind. Nothing about the fall of the Tribunal and the eruption of the Red Mountain was added.

I guess this means that Skyrim has copies of a book that is over two centuries old, and there were no revisions or updated versions written. Pretty hard to suspend disbelief for

...I did read it in that library in the College of Winterhold which is supposed to house old and arcane books, but still, giving it that mental cop-out seems kinda cheap...

Actually it references the Red Year.

206 I believe, since Oblivion took place ~6 years after Morrowind, and Skyrim 200 after Oblivion.