Book Club

This Rhode Island bookseller lifts her community up one book at a time

Lisa Valentino of Ink Fish Books joins Boston.com’s Book Club to talk about Elizabeth Gonzalez James’ “The Bullet Swallower.”

By Annie Jonas

February 21, 2024

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Lisa Valentino, the owner of Ink Fish Books, opened her bookstore in Warren, Rhode Island in 2018 without a background in business. But what she lacked in retail experience, she more than made up for through her long-standing dedication to her community. Determined to bring a bookstore to her home of more than 30 years, she dug her heels in and got to work. 

Using marketing skills developed through her work with the Providence Journal, Valentino created a business plan centered around her community members, and went door to door talking to residents about it.

“They were so supportive,” she said in an interview with Boston.com. “I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Five years later, the bookstore remains Warren’s only independent bookstore and has become a hub for the community.

Located on Warren’s Main Street, the bookstore carries new and gently used books across all genres (including a children’s section), hosts workshops and events, and specializes in pairing books with locally made products — for example, pairing a cookbook by a Rhode Island author with Warren-made food products.

“It’s a snapshot [of the community.] The bookstore space is bringing and fusing all of that together,” Valentino said.

Having a community-centered approach is a natural fit for bookstores, which Valentino said serve an important role as a gathering place for community members to exchange ideas, and, of course, to “talk books.” The need for books and independent businesses became starkly apparent when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the bookstore — like so many small businesses across the country and globe — was shut down. 

Standing in her kitchen in 2020, Valentino thought about all of the local makers who were no longer able to offer customers their products during lockdown. That’s when the idea for the Rhody Reader Box was born.

“Everything just stopped. And I thought, I need to do this Rhody Reader Box now. This is really important, so I can support them,” she said.

The Rhody Reader Box is a highly curated and customized selection of handcrafted gifts celebrating all things Rhode Island. The inaugural package was sent to over 20 states across the country, Valentino said, and featured a signed copy of Indigenous Rhode Island author Vanessa Lillie’s book “For The Best,” along with an “Ocean State” candle by Aster Candle, a whiskey-infused chocolate bar from Aura’s Chocolate Bar, and a paper flower made by Cranston, Rhode Island librarian Robin Nyzio. Ten percent of the sales were donated to the Rhode Island Writers Colony, a local nonprofit supporting writers of color through residency programs founded in Warren.

Valentino partnered with Lillie again for 2023’s Rhody Reader Box, which includes Lillie’s thriller “Blood Sisters,” along with locally made products by Juniper Hill Apothecary and Freya Soapworks, and Indigenous-made artwork by Cherokee Copper, Kayla Miller, Gehdi Lynn Wilson, and Trisha Johnson. A portion of the proceeds will support the Tomaquag Museum located in Exeter, Rhode Island.

Valentino said the feedback she’s received from customers who have bought the Rhody Reader Box has been “phenomenal,” and has affirmed her commitment to her community.

“I was there to give, to raise the community up in this literary world. But I get so much back.” 

Join Book Club’s live author discussion on Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. 

This month’s Book Club pick is “The Bullet Swallower,” by Elizabeth Gonzalez James. Valentino will speak with Gonzalez James about the new book, which she called “brilliant,” on February 26 at 6 p.m.

The novel tells a multi-generational story about a Mexican cowboy who heads to Texas to save his family only to discover the cosmic debt his ancestors have left behind.

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