'Birds of Paradise' and Lopez, live at the festival

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez reads the novel "Birds of Paradise" that he "wrote" with readers. The author of Chapter 7, Renee Holland Davidson, above, reads her portion of the book during the 2008 L.A. Times Festival of Books. Click here to check out the whole book, in which Lopez wrote the first and final chapters.

-- Mary Forgione

(Photo by Meredith Artley / Los Angeles Times)