The Brothers Karamazov and Grapes of Wrath were hard to put down

Yes to both. Don’t feel bad about shelving it and getting back to it once you’ve built up more experience and comprehension, that’s what I did.

Also don’t worry about pages per hour, you should be reading it slowly. Reading slowly is a good thing it means you are reading above your comprehension level, whereas reading fast means you’re reading below your level. You won’t grow if you only read easy books.