Reading methods, stats, and intro books sounds like a fate worse than death. If you're a stats person, then that may help. But, for most students, the stats you'll get in your program will be a good enough start. In contrast, I would suggest reading review articles that synthesize your subfield. Review articles (like those in the Annual Review of Sociology) are usually very boring and dense but they provide good overviews to a subfield, highlight current debates, and point to other works that might be helpful. From there you can find stuff that is both currently relevant and more fun to read. Also, I think reading things written by your new faculty is helpful. It will help you talk with them and will give you an idea of who's doing what in your department.