Let words light the way

Engaging with books and authors can help counteract the darkness of winter. Lucky for you, dear readers, a wide variety of tastes can be satisfied by the events local booksellers are most eagerly anticipating. Here’s a sampling:

On a hunch that many people made new year’s resolutions aimed at eating better, Trident Booksellers & Cafe is hosting cooking demonstrations this month with local cookbook authors: Avi Shemtov, executive chef of the Canton-based Chubby Chickpea and author of “The Single Guy Cookbook’’ (Page Street), appears Wednesday at 6 p.m.; chef Katie Chudy, author of “Superfood Sandwiches’’ (Fair Winds) Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.; and nutritionists Tara Mardigan and Kate Weiler, co-authors of “Real Fit Kitchen’’ (Fair Winds), Jan. 21 at 7 p.m.

Penguin Classics is sending famous authors on the road to talk up new editions of old books. Novelist Tom Perrotta, who wrote a foreword for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,’’ will be at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.

Harvard Business School professor and TED star Amy Cuddy will talk about her research into power poses and her new book, “Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges’’ (Little, Brown), Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. at First Parish Church in Cambridge. The price of admission is a copy of the book ($28) and a ticket ($6) bought at Porter Square Books in Cambridge.

The store is hosting a trio of romance writers on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. Harvard graduates Eloisa James and Caroline Linden will be joined by Sarah MacLean, who also writes a monthly column for The Washington Post about the best new romance novels.

Newtonville Books has an eclectic trio of novelists on tap at the end of next month. Paul Goldberg, author of “The Yid’’ (Picador), a debut novel involving Stalin and Shakespeare, will be at the Newton bookstore Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. On Feb. 28 at 2 p.m., local author Dawn Tripp will read from “Georgia’’ (Random House), a novel about artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s love affair with famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Mona Awad, author of “13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl’’ (Penguin), shows up Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. Kirkus Reviews called her book a “painfully raw — and bitingly funny’’ debut.

Papercuts in Jamaica Plain on March 7 at 7 p.m. will host debut novelist Catherine Lowell in conversation with Heidi Pitlor, editor of the “Best American Short Stories’’ series and a novelist herself. In Lowell’s “The Madwoman Upstairs’’ (Simon & Schuster), the only remaining descendant of the Brontës searches for the family’s long-rumored secret estate.

Celebrating national parks

Acadia National Park in Maine is the sole New England entry in “59 Illustrated National Parks’’ (Anderson Design) by Joel and Nathan Anderson. For this book celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016, the father and son commissioned illustrations modeled on posters created by the Works Progress Administration during the Depression. Each entry describes a park’s history, suggests the best time to visit, and mentions park highlights. Acadia, they note, has 45 miles of scenic carriage roads suitable for biking.

Coming out

¦ “A Doctor in the House: My Life With Ben Carson’’ by Candy Carson (Sentinel)

¦ “The Past’’ by Tessa Hadley (Harper)

¦ “The Guest Room’’ by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday)

Pick of the Week

Darwin Ellis of Books on the Common in Ridgefield, Conn., recommends “After the Crash’’ by Michel Bussi (Hachette): “In this old-fashioned crime novel, a custody battle erupts between two sets of grandparents over an infant girl who miraculously survives a plane crash in which everyone else perished. On the case for 18 years, a private detective now is pushing for closure.’’

Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.