While the list of books is fantastic (I've read many of them) I'm skeptical of reading them all within a year while not having that be the primary focus of your life.

How did you read them? Did you just speed read them all? Some of them (like Anna Karenina) in my opinion deserve months if not years of reflection. It seems like the point was to just get through the books as fast as possible, rather than appreciating the beauty they all offer. But I could be wrong.