How's Your 2011 Reading Going?

At the beginning of the year I thought it would be fun to participate in a couple of reading challenges. You can find the icons with appropriate links at the bottom of my blog page. Since this was my first year I decided to keep it simple and go with two I knew I should be able to pull off with no trouble. One is simply based on the total books read in 2011. My goal this year is fifty books. So far I've read twelve and number thirteen will be devoured in the next couple of days. You can see the full list of what I've read on my Goodreads or Shelfari page, along with a review of each book.

The second challenge was a Stephen King reading challenge. I chose this one because I absolutely love his books, but I've been terribly remiss the past couple of years. The honest truth is that once I started reading paranormal romance I stopped reading horror. It wasn't a conscious decision, more of an accidental habit. I've continued to buy his books as they were released, but they've been gathering dust on my TBR pile. I started with Blaze and absolutely LOVED it! It did a good job of reminding me why Stephen King is one of my favorite authors.In honor of reverting back to my love of the horror genre, I also picked up a copy of Joe Hill's The Heart-Shaped Box. It was absolutely fabulous and I will be picking up his books as I see them now too.

So, how is your 2011 reading going? Are you gearing up for the inevitable summer reading programs? I sure am. I won a $50 Amazon gift card from my local library last summer! Plus there are so many great books coming out in the next few weeks I can barely contain my excitement. It'll be a wonder if I get anything written myself. One of my highly anticipated TBR is the latest release in Madeline Hunter's Rarest Blooms series. It comes out next week! If you see my door is closed then don't knock. I'll be reading...

Have any books you've loved so far this year? Share the recommendations below.