Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work.

From an Interview with Jennifer Egan. She has two observations.

What was Cambridge like?

I am really glad I went there because when I was in college at Penn it was that moment of great fixation on literary theory— this was the early to mid-eighties— and I read way too much theory and way too little literature. I read about reading instead of reading. It was ridiculous! I would read about books I hadn’t read and feel no compulsion to read the books. It was just insane. Though, I have to say that some of that has stayed with me— the excitement about the meta.

Anyway, I actually read a lot of books at Cambridge, which was great.

And

Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work.