@gater4: Well, I hate to say it, but you've likely already read the best that the X-men has to offer. New X-men and Astonishing X-men are really, IMHO, the best things that the X-men franchise has ever come out with.
After House of M came Decimation, which was a misnomer (as to decimate something means to reduce it by 10%), and it of course focused on the effects of the whole 'no more mutants' thing. It wasn't bad, largely because it brought with it a new X-factor title centered around Madrox which was ongoing until I believe last year, but overall the event was rather...meh. I'd suggest looking up a summary online instead of trying to track it down.
Something called Unstoppable came out next, but I don't remember anything about it, so I'll talk about Deadly Genesis instead (it came next). I would not recommend tracking it down- all you really need to know is that the third Summers brother is revealed; his name is Vulcan, he's an omega-level energy manipulator, and he's a jerk.
After Deadly Genesis Vulcan goes off into space for reasons I don't recall and tries to take over the Shi'ar empire in The Rise and fall of the Shi'ar Empire, which I wrote my first review on this site about (link).
Endangered Species was next, and it focused both on Beast and explaining why some mutants still had their powers following House of M. I think this is possibly the last time I remember Beast getting characterized decently in an X-men comic, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
Next came Messiah Complex, which was about the first mutant birth since M-day and introduced a new addition to the Summers family, Hope (though she would be named that later). The event was pretty much most of the X-men factions and enemies fighting to either steal or protect an infant, and serves as a precursor to a far better event which happened a few years ago, Second Coming, which we'll get to later.
Divided We Stand, which was about characters dealing with the dissolution of the X-men as a team, and was actually fairly decent.
The X-men soon reconvene, however, and this time in San Francisco, which was the first time this had happened since they relocated to Australia in the 1980s. It's okay, might be worth checking out.
X-Infernus is next, and it's pretty much all about Magik. If you don't like her, don't read it.
Messiah War, the precursor for Second coming, came next. It's a crossover between the Cable and X-factor titles. It was okay.
Utopia, which takes place during Dark Reign, is essentially about Norman Osborn creating his own team of (Dark) X-men and trying to use it and his Avengers to get rid of the actual X-men. It wasn't horrible.
In Nation X Magneto returns and Beast leaves. Yet again, it wasn't horrible.
Next was Necrosha, in which Selene returns and uses the transmode virus to bring various dead X-characters to life as a sort of army so she can become a goddess. This brought Cypher back into the picture and involved possibly the coolest (visually) incarnation of X-force I have ever seen.
Second Coming, my personal favourite X-men story of recent years, was next. It's the final part of the Messiah trilogy (that being Messiah Complex and Messiah War) and spanned most X-titles at the time. I really don't want to spoil it, so I'll just say it's excellent and you should definitely read it.
Curse of the Mutants was next, and it was stupid. Jubilee became a vampire. Don't read it.
Then came Age of X, which was good.
Schism was next, and it sucked. Don't buy it.
Regenesis was a bit better than Schism, I guess, but that's not difficult.
Avengers vs X-men was terrible. Again, don't buy it. Read a summary online or something.
Battle of the Atom was remarkably unimportant and not worth paying attention to.
And that should be all the story arcs! Welcome back into the world of the X-men, and have fun catching up!
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