Amazon Kindle doesn't do well with being bored.

[CarlZ993]

I'd go w/ a Kindle. You can pick the lightest one, like Stick, or the back lit one (Paperwhite; longer battery life but heavier). A 2-L Sea to Summit SilNylon dry bag will easily fit and keep it waterproof.

FYI... You can easily download books from your library on the Kindle (electronically check them out just like a 'real' book). The Nook requires more hoops to jump through to do the same thing. A librarian who owned a Nook told me this.

[MuddyWaters]

I have never had any interest in toting my tablet to read on the trail.

I can say that since the advent of Kindle, etc, I have bought at least 10x the books I bought before them.
Its just too easy. Too easy to buy, and too easy to read.

At least 2-3 books per month on avg for me.
If Im travelling for work, at least 2-3 per week.

[ArtharChin]

I gift a Kindle to my mum as her Christmas present. It is very easy to search and buy new books online. She just loves the device. 

[Bucho]

I hiked with my kindle, I'm a big fan. You do get a lot of battery life out of it and can send email when you find wifi. I had my guide book as well as elevation profiles fro the whole trail on it.

The downside is that you do eventually have to recharge it. If you're someone who tends to stay in towns anyway it's a non issue but if you're not frequently staying in town just to recharge is lame, so you might want to figure out a system to avoid that...then said system is yet more weight.

[perdidochas]

Kindles are not backlit. You need an external light source at night. The e-ink display is "just like" reading a paperback.

The Kindle paper-white is backlit.

[fcoulter]

If I was going to take my Kindle on a hike over a week, I'd be looking at this case: http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Lighted-...dp/B006E95V8M/

It deals with the lack of backlighting on the cheapest Kindle and the fact that batteries run down.

[da fungo]

If you'd like to keep up with general current affairs while on the trail, and you have a 3G capable Kindle, I'd recommend the New York Times Latest News blog. Only $1.99 a month; updated frequently throughout the day. Downsidw (especially if you d not have 3G) is that you can only read the current version, so, if you're totally out of digital contact for a couple of days, you'll miss out on any stories that occur or develop in that time. It would be like coming out of the woods on 09/15/2001 and missing everything that happened on 09/11.