Challenging myself to read 生死疲劳 in a year.

It's been about more 20 years since I last tried to read a Chinese language book. Yea, I'm 39 this year. I don't think I've ever actually completely read any novel written in Mandarin. After getting some exposure to (Guqin zither) Qin 琴, (Chinese calligraphy) Shu 書, and (Chinese painting) Hua 畫 since the beginning of 2012, I think it's time I'd slowly challenge myself to read a novel written in Mandarin. Let's see if I can finish reading this book in a year's time. haha. If I can do that, it would be the first Chinese language book I have ever completely read in my life. *smile*

The book I have purchased from Kinokuniya's Singapore store is:
2012 Nobel Laureate for Literature, Mo Yan's newest book, 生死疲劳, is a very interesting read actually. After going at it for a few pages, I'm pleasantly surprised that it's so readable and humorous. I was expecting it to be very high brow or difficult to understand, but it's not. Amazing!

I also bought another book (the book on the right in the picture below) that discusses about the book 生死疲劳, sort of like Clift Notes, I guess. haha. How about you? Would you also rush out to buy and read Mo Yan's books, just to see what's so special about his writing style?