I did it! I read this book in less than a year! One day short of a year, granted, but hey, a day counts. It wasn't that it was impossible to read or anything, but I read it solely during my free time at work and it went something like this: 
a) Read the Beowulf poem/translation through over the course of a couple weeks. 
b) Started reading the Beowulf poem again, this time in conjunction with Tolkien's commentary on it, which was more than twice as long. 
c) Didn't touch the book at all for like, several months while I filled my free time at work with other things 
d) Read the rest of the book and Tolkien's commentary in a couple of weeks when I realized I was coming up on the one year mark 
e) read Sellic Spell and The Lay of Beowulf in a single day before the year mark. 

I thought this was great. Beowulf is one of the first fantasy stories in history, and one of the only surviving stories that was written in Old English. It's a little dry, as is Tolkien's commentary, but hey, it's still worth reading. 

I had no idea what Sellic Spell was, but it turns out it was Tolkien's Fix-It Fanfiction (which he then translated into Old English what a fucking nerd) and it was *way* more engaging than Beowulf and I flew right through it. And The Lay of Beowulf is rhythmic and once again shows what a master post Tolkien was. 

Anyway, absolutely worth picking up for any fans of Tolkien or fans of mideveal literature/Beowulf.