From a Times Insider column by Terence McGinley about book critic Molly Young headlined “Turning Pages, Taking Plunges”:

As a New York Times book critic, Molly Young often reads three to six books at a time. Under that workload, she says, she likes to spend two hours with one book, then change to another. For her, the practice is sort of like moving from a hot steam to a cold bath. “It resets your circulation,” she said. “I like to shock myself between vastly different books.”