As you may know, this month marks the 50th anniversary of the First Ascent of Mt. Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are credited with the First Ascent, though there is a chance that Mallory made the summit before perishing. When they found his body in 1999, hs cameras were not among his remains. At any rate, Hillary and Tenzing made it down alive, and thus they are given the nod for being the first to attain the summit of the world's tallest mountain. When I was in Tibet I didn't have the opportunity to visit Everest, which is fine because it gives me another reason to go back there some day, but I did see the unmistakeable massif from the plane. Quite the sight.
On May 10, 1996, eight climbers died in a single night on Everest. Jon Krakauer wrote the defintive account of this incident in Into Thin Air. I highly recommend this book if you haven't read it- even if you have no interest in mountaineering, it is an incredible story- Krakauer was there on assignment with Outside Magazine and writes from first-hand experience.
Aside from Into Thin Air there has been quite a number of other books written by people who survived the storm, as well as two movies- the IMAX movie and a dramatized version of Into Thin Air. I recommend the IMAX movie, which is available on video, but not the adaptation. As far as the other books go, I think I have five of them in my personal library. This weekend I read Beck Weathers' account, Left For Dead,. He really was left for dead high up in the Death Zone. But miraculously he revived himself after lying in the snow unconscious (maybe even clinically dead) for some hours and made his way back to Camp IV, even though he was completely blind and his hands were frozen solid (and later had to be amputated). He was left to his own devices and so spent the rest of the night in a tent with the flap open. In the high-altitude confusion no one really knew what was going on. The next day they brought him down to Camp I and then he was airlifted out by helicopter- the highest helicopter rescue ever, and somewhat miraculous itself. Anyways, his book primarily talks about the depression that led Weathers to find his escape in climbing, and the effect his near-death experience had on him and his family.
Anatoli Boukreev was the guide who was somewhat villified in Into Thin Air for his seemingly selfish behaviour, and The Climb is his response. In it he tells his side of the story, how he went out three times and rescued three of his clients in what was actually one of the more amazing rescues in mountaineering history. Boukreev died on Annapurna in 1997.
Lene Gammelgard wrote Climbing High, and is notable because hers is the only account written from a female's perspective that I have read so far.
Tenzing Norgay's son Jamling Tenzing Norgay wrote Touching My Father's Soul, and is defintiely worth a read, as it is written from a Sherpa's point of view, and has many interesting tidbits on Tibetan Buddhism as well.
Finally, I also have David Breashears' book (he was the one who did the IMAX film) but since the recently-married Stevey accidentally stole it from me many months ago, I have never been able to read it
You can get all of these books at a used or independent bookstore near you.