As Nabokov put it: "Incidentally, I use the word reader very loosely. Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader." And I shall tell you why. When we read a book for the first time the very process of laboriously moving our eyes from left to right, line after line, page after page, this complicated physical work upon the book, the very process of learning in terms of space and time what the book is about, this stands between us and artistic appreciation.

I think trying to read countless of books really misses the point about reading. Reading is not about accumulating knowledge, which we constantly forget, it's to train the 'mental instruments' of reading. And for that one needs to study something deeply the same way some pianists dedicate themselves to one piece of music. If it's complex enough all that's relevant is in there.