Chaucer

It's said that Samuel Beckett carried around a small pocket-sized edition of Dante's Divine Comedy at all times, and that it was found in the room of the nursing home where he lived when he died.

The same nursing home of which Beckett said, when asked if he liked living there, that they served too much meat and not enough vegetables.

In the end the best thing that may be said about reading a book is that reading requires the reader to be still for at least a little while.