In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:
Really interesting list of books - thanks for putting it together. I've added a few to my wishlist.
This year I've particularly enjoyed Robert Mads Anderson's 'Nine Lives - Expeditions to Everest' - a serious mountaineering book about Everest, David Rose and Ed Douglas' 'Regions of the Heart' - a moving and powerful book about Alison Hargreaves - very different from most mountaineering books, and Andy Pollitt's 'Punk in the Gym' - while it tails off towards the end, in the most part it's a wonderfully engaging and idiosyncratic pictures of the North Wales and Sheffield scene in the 80's - you really feel like Andy Pollitt is telling you this stuff over the course of a boozy night in a dive pub. RIP Alison and Andy.