First off I have been in general IT for a couple years (SYS admin small company).  I am really getting interested in security and pen testing.  I have been doing some research and started doing some reading.  Reading "The Art of Deception" - Kevin Mitnick at the moment.  I don't want to get left behind in a field that is so dynamic.  I am in the process of studying for the CompTIA Security+ exam and am wondering if those of you with experience in these fields have any advice for me.  Like I said I am starting to feel like I am getting bored and need to learn new information and security seems to be an enjoyable route for me and I am interested in getting my hands on the right things to help me advance my career.  Any ideas are welcome.  I am not trying to apply for a job here just really excited about IT security!!!

Thanks for the reply Dengar.  I will look into these books you recommend.  The reason I asked these type of questions is because I was feeling overwhelmed from all the looking I had did all over the web.  So I thought why not try and centralize my searching by asking people who have already been where I am now.  Hopefully this site will be able to enlighten me in many aspects of the security world.  Again thanks in advance to all who help!!!

Dengar has given some excellent suggestions. I would just like to add Cunterhack reloaded by Ed Skoudis in the list of books. It's an excellent book and will help you solidify your base.
Also, just reading a lot of books won't be sufficient. If you really want to advance at a faster pace build a virtual lab and practice the tools and techniques given in the books. Jhaddix and Laz3r have posted wonderful tutorials to build a virtual test lab. You can get them here:-
Network pentest lab setup    
Pentest Lab: Web Application Edition

You can add firewalls and routers to closely match up a real-world topology. Most of the stuff used for my pentest lab is either free or found it dirt cheap on ebay. If you can't afford vmware workstation then you can try other options like vmware server or virtulbox. You can also sign-up for the Microsoft Technet subscription. You'll be able to download a lot of free software for unlimited use.

Welcome to the forums

Hi and welcome to EH.net! after the mitnick books you can start with some more ethical hacking specific books (syngress has some very good ones, and dont forget the hacking with dummies and grey hat hacking books!) and try some pentest images that are floating around on the web (there's a topic on here with some names and links to some discs you can download). Good luck and hope to see you around!