I stopped after three years (‘06-‘09) because it had become an endurance contest. I’d made it through the DN, MN , SN, and most of the AN when I realized that I was not penetrating the meaning beyond a certain point, and that all I was trying to do was finish. It was a dead end. Like I said in another related thread, I was able to pick it back up when I was reading for the meaning, when I had a reason to explore - whether it be to gather an array of descriptions of a particular word or phrase or theme or to learn about a particular figure. That was how I generated the energy to read feverishly again.
I was able to chronicle this style of reading during the year I curated the Study Group on DW, and what I grew to understand was that a sutta will open up as we grow familiar with the themes that extend across the Canon, and when those themes apply to us in some way. It is inevitable that our initial reading will contribute to inspiration and to building a historical framework, but it must extend beyond that. Literally, it needs to extend right through our being so that we begin find ourselves in these rich descriptions of suffering and freedom from it.
Finding the urgency to press for that meaning is essential, and I think it is really easy to keep the suttas at arms length under the premise of being responsible - with the notion that it is important to gather complete information before proceeding. However, this is the exact approach that keeps us from being shaken by the deep and sometimes overwhelming descriptions, and it is that very self-honesty that is required in order for a sutta to begin to mean more than just an inspiring story from 2500 years ago. Without being struck by the sense that the suttas are talking about something urgent and more important than anything else, a person is reading for some other reason, and that reason will only hold up for so long before person simply cannot sustain their interest and stops reading.