Riding and reading: Popular Nova Scotian YouTuber launches mobile bookstore

Ariel Bissett converted a mini-truck into a bookmobile. (Source: Ariel Bissett)

On any given day, Ariel Bissett could be driving her Japanese mini-truck across Nova Scotia with Margaret Atwood, Tove Jansson, or Stephen King riding shotgun, along with literal armfuls of other notable authors stuffed in the back. Her list of passengers changes depending on her destination, but the goal is always the same: Putting a good book in someone’s hands.

“I have sports books that aren’t really about sports, they’re about camaraderie and teamwork,” Bissett said. “I have books that will make you want to go outside. I have the best books for bingeing, really exciting plots. I have books about women losing their minds, women who have had it and are starting to rebel.

“I also have books my brother thinks you should read and books my best friend thinks you should read.”

Bissett, who runs a popular YouTube channel with more than 340,000 subscribers, is a voracious reader, a habit she picked up from her parents when she was young. Over the years she has amassed a collection of page-turners that would make any self-professed bookworm proud.

“I read online that if you have over 1,000 books you technically count as a library and I have passed that number,” she said. “I keep adding more shelves to more walls.

“My house is becoming better insulated by all these books.”

Like most lovers of literature, Bissett, who also hosts the Books Unbound podcast, often fantasized about opening her own bookshop. In late 2023 she made a new year’s resolution to turn that dream into a reality and she got to work laying out a plan.

“I started brainstorming about doing it on a smaller scale,” she said. “I could do a bookmobile. There’s a long history of booksellers selling books on the road. It felt like an attainable way of opening a bookstore.”

Through her research Bissett learned many people have turned miniature trucks into bookstores on wheels, so she started searching for a Japanese mini-truck (also known as a kei truck). She found one in Dartmouth and quickly got in touch with the owner last January. After a conversation and an agreement, Bissett climbed into the truck and steered it home.

“I thought I’d get blown off the Macdonald Bridge,” she said. “I had a problem at the toll because you have to throw the money in the toll basket and it’s a right-hand side vehicle. I had to shift over to throw the money over and go back to the driver’s side.”

Bissett registered as a bookseller and completed numerous applications before turning her attention to the vehicle. She transformed the mini-truck into the bookmobile of her dreams, sanding it, painting it, and installing the shelf. She documented the process on her YouTube channel, which she originally launched as a way to review books.

“I’d been watching YouTube throughout high school and I found book reviewing in 2011 and I was enamoured with it,” she said. “I started reviewing books online because I wanted to share that love of reading online.”

The “Bissett Books” mini-truck officially hit the road this summer and Bissett drove to multiple festivals, fairs, and farmers markets to offer a wide selection of tomes to eager readers, often curating her selection.

“The truck is very small and because of that I knew I couldn’t be a generalist bookstore,” she said. “I did a Pride event so picked out a bunch of queer books. I was in Halifax for Jazz Fest so I had jazz books.”

Bissett plans to bring the truck to more events as its reputation continues to grow.

“I love the idea of driving to random beaches and lighthouses and parking there – places where people want to read – but the more I look into it, the more difficult it seems,” she said. “This year I’ve just been going to festivals and fairs.

“A huge reason this was possible was because of my YouTube audience and all the support I get online. I’m really proud of this project.”

More information on the mini-truck’s events can be found at www.bissettbooks.com.

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