Think small: compact caravanning

Operation Swallow by Mark Felton, Icon Books, $32.99 .. .. .. .. .. ..

I have read a truckload of books about World War II and quite a few about concentration camps. Hundreds of thousands saw their lives extinguished in the most vile manner.

Operation Swallow is a totally different story of prisoners under the aegis of the Nazis. Mark Felton's approach is realistic and gutwrenching. Where was the Geneva Convention when American POWs were put to work creating an underground facility to help the Germans attack the British with rockets?

The men whose story is told here were captured after the battle of the

Ardennes, one of the few battles in which the Wehrmacht prevailed over American forces. The story focuses on Hans Kasten, a GI of German descent. He went out on a limb to try to prevent the American prisoners being forced to do hard labour for the German cause.

Their tale became known as Operation Swallow which the American government resisted being made public until Mark Felton was able to piece together what happened from those who survived. It is good that it's now revealed.

— Tony Nielsen

My Mini Could Tow That: A collection of Teardrops and Tiny Caravans By Don and Marilyn Jessen, Bateman Books .. .. .. .. .. ..

We're a little bit obsessed with going tiny for our living spaces these days.

Here's where they get even tinier. Liteweight Caravans is a well-known name on the New Zealand roads, and it's Don's family business. Liteweight responded to the fuel crisis of the 1970s — remember carless days — by producing a 10ft by 6ft (3m by 1.8m) caravan that weighed only 500kg.

Since then fuel has only got more expensive and the potential caravans more tiny, so this is a joyous look at the teeny tiny compact teardrop caravans and how they fit so much into so little space.

These are dozens of couples' personal stories of how they managed their tiny space, with lovely colour photos throughout. — Linda Thompson