The first six pages (a few observations)

• Finnegan is placed upon a bier by his wife.
• Finnegan works in construction and his death has something to do with a wall.
• Reading aloud helps to comprehend the meaning of the words better than reading in silence.
• This is not going to be easy.

I asked around for help among my friends who came up with the following information:

Finnegans Wake is a description of the river Liffey flowing through Dublin.

It gave me a clue to the first scentence:

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.

"Eve and Adam's" thus could be a reference to the Church of the Immaculate Conception also known as Adam and Eve's. This church is located on Merchants Quay in Dublin. 
The Dublin quays are two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin. One of the name designations of the south roadway is the Merchant's Quay.