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Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.
The two versions I have are a handy packable size. They're long enough to occupy me for awhile if things are really crappy, too.

"Endurance" by Alfred Lansing. A classic that totally grips you even if you already know the story. The paperback is not too heavy to carry on your back:
http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackle ... 078670621X

While we are in that part of the planet, here is another one. It is literally and figuratively heavier equally, but equally gripping IMHO. "The Last Place on Earth" by Roland Huntford
http://www.amazon.com/Place-Earth-Moder ... 375754741/

Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac

The collected stories of HP Lovecraft is a favorite choice, and good for reading aloud. Some of those stories are pretty scary, especially on cold dark nights...

I'm a [sometimes] hiker, and was an English Major. You've had great suggestions already. I like guys like Wallace Stegner, Tony Hillerman, etc. If you're ecologically motivated I like Leopold, Muir. etc. Try "The Milagro BeAnfield War" or something sometime.

If none of the above get books in genres you appreciate.

I don't take books into the backcountry, too much weight.

The only book I ever took into the backcountry was The Desert Fox, an extremely detailed account of Rommel's campaigns. Couldn't put it down.

I don't take books into the mountains, but always take books on my 7-day canoe trips into the Boundary Waters/Quetico where a canoe carries the weight.

Page turners by Nelson Demille always serve me well.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer

or Mountaineering books:

i grab one of those cheap paperback pocket-size classics from B&N. lightweight and timeless.

spiritualspatula wrote:Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.

I hate this book, sorry spiritualspatula!

All Abbey does is bitch about humans who aren't just like him. He talks about getting out and being alone and different then people, but hates on those who do the drive threw of National parks instead of trekking 20 miles into the hills to really get the experience. To me he obviously has some pride issues and doesn't like most people. He writes them off before he knows them.

zodis wrote:Weight is no longer a factor if you can bear an extra 10.2 oz., the weight of a Kindle 2 Wireless Reading Device. It can hold about 1,500 books. Wireless connectivity is only necessary for downloading books, not for reading books you have already downloaded.

the battery will be dead within 1st hour in freezing temps!

As per Nelson. I really enjoyed Endurance as well while waiting out bad weather on Aconcagua.

On long Nepal trips, I take heaps of books, I pity the poor Yak (or Nak). I pretty much make it a rule not to take anything about mountaineering. Besides that I might bring whatever may have won the Booker Prize recently (which always seems to be something about India)

Hotoven wrote:

spiritualspatula wrote:Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.

I hate this book, sorry spiritualspatula!

All Abbey does is bitch about humans who aren't just like him. He talks about getting out and being alone and different then people, but hates on those who do the drive threw of National parks instead of trekking 20 miles into the hills to really get the experience. To me he obviously has some pride issues and doesn't like most people. He writes them off before he knows them.

Quite true, and he admits just as much of himself. Whoever said you have to agree with something to read it? There's something to be said, reading about a crazy old man bitching about living in a little hut in the middle of the desert when I'm bunkered down in the mountains solo waiting for the weather to break.
I'd also wholeheartedly recommend Beyond The Hundredth Meridian by Wallace Stegner. It's about Powell's trip down the Colorado and his later influence (or attempt to influence) western policy. It's pertinent reading for anybody living in the west, and Powell is a grade A badass. It's about adventure into the unknown and the consequences of opening up the unknown to the nation.