Anselm, Hester.
The lighthouse keeper’s almanac : a reading / in conversation with Delphine Carvalho.
— Upstairs, sixty chairs.
Waitlist381.45 New, used & rare since 1987
Every book we love has a card.
Twenty-two thousand books on three creaky floors in Fox Point, a café on the landing, and a 1931 oak card catalog where our booksellers type up the books they can’t stop talking about.
Pull a drawer. We’ll find you the next one.
381.45
M337m Open todayFri · Oct 30
M337m Open todayFri · Oct 30
028.1 Staff picks
Shelf three, by the window · restocked Fridays
Twelve books we’d press into your hands.
Scroll, hover or tap a spine
No. 03 of 12
Salt Marsh Hours, poems by Teodor Haas. Ike says:
Short poems about the Seekonk at low tide. Read one with your coffee, then look out the window for a minute. That’s the whole instruction.
Nine Winters on Federal Hill by Carmela Bramante. Hattie says:
A family bakery, nine Christmases and one grudge that outlives two popes. Funny until it isn’t, then funny again. Bring tissues and a cannoli.
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Almanac by Hester Anselm. Delphine says:
A widowed keeper on Prudence Island logs the weather for forty years, and quietly logs her whole life too. I read it in two nights, then made everyone here read it.
A Field Guide to Small Rooms, essays by Imogen Starling. Yusuf says:
Essays on closets, train compartments, phone booths and the attic where she learned to read. I keep handing it to people who swear they don’t read essays.
Ferry Weather by Amos Pereira. Yusuf says:
A body on the Block Island ferry, a detective who gets seasick, and the best fog in any mystery I’ve read. Twisty but fair. I didn’t guess it.
The Moth Room by Odile Fenn. Delphine says:
Two sisters inherit a natural-history museum in Woonsocket with no visitors and four thousand pinned moths. Strange and tender. The ending made me gasp at the register.
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, used. Gus says:
A 1940s reprint with all the Rockwell Kent drawings, spine rubbed, text clean. Skip the whale-anatomy chapters if you must. I won’t tell Melville.
Small Boats, a memoir by Winifred Vey. Ike says:
A sailmaker in Bristol on fifty years of fixing other people’s mistakes. Plain, funny, wise. My father read it and phoned me, which never happens.
Bread and Salt by Maria dos Anjos. Hattie says:
Portuguese and Cape Verdean home cooking from Fox Point kitchens. The kale soup on page 112 is the one I make every November, and it beats mine.
Otis and the Overdue Book by Wren Takahashi. Nell says:
An owl returns a library book forty years late and has to explain himself. Read it aloud and do the owl’s voice. Trust me.
The Long Quiet by Imre Valas. Gus says:
A generation ship where nobody remembers why everyone whispers. The best science fiction I read this year, and the shortest. Finish it in a weekend.
Letters to a Young Bookseller by Arthur Pell. The staff say:
Our founder wrote it in 1994 and we still sell three a week. Mostly about patience, rent and the man who returned a book by mail from Peru.
790.2 Readings & events
Filed under November.
Six evenings and Saturdays out of the drawer. Everything is free unless the card is stamped otherwise. RSVP at the counter or call (555) 012-6047.
05Nov · Thu · 7 pmReading 07Nov · Sat · 10:30 amStory time Abernathy, Nell, reader.
Owls, overdue books & hot cider : for ages 3 to 8, grown-ups on the small chairs.
— Children’s room.
Free12Nov · Thu · 7 pmClub Second Thursday Club.
Nine winters on Federal Hill / Carmela Bramante ; led by Yusuf Darwish.
— The landing. Book 10% off.
All welcome20Nov · Fri · 6:30 pmPoetry Haas, Teodor.
Salt marsh hours : poems, then an open mic / eight slots, sign up at the counter.
— Upstairs. All of it goes to the poets.
$5 door21Nov · Sat · 11–3Used & rare Medeiros, Gus, appraiser.
Bring up to ten books : we’ll tell you what they’re worth, and whether we’d buy them.
— Basement, by the rare cases.
Free28Nov · Sat · all daySale Blind dates with books.
Forty books in brown paper, a typed clue on each : cider on the landing.
— All three floors.
15% off used
374.22 The reading club
41 members · 1 shop cat
Second Thursdays, upstairs, seven o’clock.
Twelve to twenty of us, one book a month, a pot of coffee and Yusuf keeping order. Come if you finished it. Come if you didn’t; someone always has a theory about the ending. Club books are 10% off all month.
- WhereUpstairs, between Poetry and Plays
- CostsNothing. Bring a mug if you like
- NextThursday, Nov 12
- SnacksHattie’s choice, usually good
Date due
| Date | Club book |
|---|---|
| NOV 12 2026 | Nine Winters on Federal Hill |
| DEC 10 2026 | The Moth Room |
| JAN 14 2027 | Moby-Dick, part one |
| FEB 11 2027 | Moby-Dick, part two (we promised) |
| MAR 11 2027 | Members’ vote |
381.45 Gift cards & subscriptions
Good for books, coffee and anything on the landing
For the reader who has everything but the next book.
Marginalia BooksGift card
No. 04117
No. 04117
Good for books, coffee & anything on the landing. Never expires.
To
From
$50Gift
Typed by hand at the counter and tucked in a library pocket, or emailed as a printable card. Buy one in the shop, by phone, or below.
Buy a gift cardSubscriptionsper
The Monthly Hardcover
A new hardcover each month, chosen after a ten-minute chat with one of us about what they loved last.
$36monthThe Paperback Habit
Two paperbacks a month: one new, one used, never the same genre twice in a row.
$28monthThe Slow Shelf
A used classic in a good edition, wrapped in brown paper with a typed card about why.
$48quarterSmall Readers
One picture book a month for ages 2 to 8, picked by Nell in the children’s room.
$20month
Pick up on Wickenden Street, or we post anywhere in the US for $5. Pause or cancel with a postcard, an email or a word at the counter.
Start one647.95 The café
Mon–Sat 8–6 · Sun 9–5
Coffee on the landing, between Fiction and Philosophy.
The Landing is fourteen seats and a window bench halfway up the stairs. Hattie pulls the first espresso at eight. The pastéis de nata come up from a bakery on Ives Street at nine and are usually gone by eleven.
- i.Read before you buy. That’s what the chairs are for.
- ii.Lids on near the rare books, please.
- iii.Dewey will ask for your croissant. He’s had lunch.
917.45 Visit
Fox Point, Providence, Rhode Island
214 Wickenden Street. The door sticks. Push.
214 Wickenden Street
Providence, RI 02903
(555) 012-6047
[email protected]
| Shop, Mon–Sat | 9 am – 9 pm |
|---|---|
| Shop, Sunday | 10 am – 7 pm |
| Café, Mon–Sat | 8 am – 6 pm |
| Café, Sunday | 9 am – 5 pm |
| We buy books | Tue & Sat, 11 – 4 |
- Getting here
- Two blocks up the hill from India Point Park. Metered parking on Wickenden and Governor, free after 6 pm. Bike rack out front, under the sign.
- Access
- The shop floor and café are step-free, with an accessible restroom. Upstairs and the basement are stairs only: ask, and we’ll bring anything down.
- Selling us books
- Tuesdays and Saturdays, 11 to 4. Up to two boxes without an appointment. Cash, or 30% more in store credit.
- Special orders
- Anything in print, usually in two or three days. We’ll call when it lands.
1987the year Arthur Pell opened the door
22,418books on the shelves this morning
3floors, and the stairs creak on all of them
1cat, Dewey, who works afternoons in Poetry