Why? One of the years I bothered keeping track[1], I read a hair over 50 novels (I think the actual number was 51 or 52), and a handful of non-fiction books I didn't bother counting. And one of those was
Moby Dick which isn't exactly a fast read.
For somebody who likes to read and has time to read, that list doesn't seem outlandish to me at all. shrug
[1]: http://www.jroller.com/mindcrime/entry/fictionlist