(4) Base Camp
Major Pettigrew's favorite author may be Rudyard Kipling, but Helen Simonson is lot easier to read than Kipling, mainly just because her story is modern and doesn't feature any talking animals with difficult-to-pronounce names. Set in the present, Major Pettigrew is told with a straightforward, accessible voice. Plus, the Major has a dry British sense of humor, occasionally spouting off in a way that would make even the Dowager Countess from Downton Abbey crack a smile.