Walden
I tried this once years ago and gave up somewhere in the first chapter. This time I skipped ahead and came back, which helped.
The long opening on economy, with its lists of what everything cost, is both the most dated and oddly the most practical part. The chapters on the seasons and the pond are where the book actually lives. There are pages about ice that I read twice in a row.
He can be insufferable. He is also often right, which is worse.