graduate level reading

I am one month from graduating with an MPA degree. Two and a half years ago, as I was considering a graduate degree, I was informed that graduate work is based on reading. As it turns out, my program is more applied (ie: we don't have to write a thesis), but I have done a gargantuan amount of reading nonetheless. I became acutely aware of this when the director of our program suggested that we include on our resumes the books we have read for each class. I began to list just the books for one class and came up with five good, solid evidences of literature enrichment. Later that day, in another class, one student who is taking just that one class was trying to think of a reference that one of the other students had cited from a book we had read for a previous class. As she tried to remember the name of the book, we all started naming off the books that might fit the criteria. In the end, I was quite amazed to consider what I had been exposed to, and I decided I wanted to revel in the fact that I was reading so much engaging material that was preparing me for real life by helping me establish a solid academic foundation.

Just to give you an idea of what kind of preparation I am currently engaged it, here is a list of various books I have read within the last three months:

• Developing Your Case for Support (153 pages)
• Managing a Nonprofit Organization in the Twenty-first Century (about 60 of 340 pages)
• Leadership Challenge (399 pages)
• Crucial Conversations (192 pages)
• Policy Paradox (314 pages)
• Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (244 pages)
• Julius, the Baby of the World (maybe 30 pages...it is a picture book)

I am currently reading from several other books, as well as delving into articles for research on microcredit's influence on the family. Oh, and I just have to add that last year I read Kant's Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals. My professor said one-third of the reason we studied it in our ethics class was so we could say we had read Kant. So, I am here declaring that I have not only debated and delved into the ideas of Kant, but I have read them, insofar as they were translated correctly.

So, as I finish this program and I get tired of all the reading, I will try to look at the big picture and be grateful for all that I am being exposed to.