Two books on China, by Peter Hessler, have kept me fascinated for some time. I love his point of view, giving both sides of every issue, with a large dose of irony. I have lots of reading from my Japanese Art class: History of Japanese Art by Penelope Mason, journal articles, chapters from other books.

Thursday I went to a new Osher class: Travel writing from the margins. Unusually for an Osher class, a textbook was assigned–Meeting Faith, by Faith Adiele, now a professor at Pitt, about her experience being ordained as a Buddhist nun in Thailand. The focus of the class is on travel writing done by unusual people, or with unusual points of view. Unfortunately, I missed the first class when I was in Chicago, because I’m really enjoying it. We have an assignment to make a presentation at the last class.

My presentation will be about Emily Carr, a Canadian artist/writer/traveler. I discovered her paintings four years ago in the Vancouver Art Gallery, and fell in love. She’s right up there with Georgia O’Keefe, but doesn’t get the same recognition, at least not in this country. I came back with two books, one of her writing and one with pictures. I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t read much of either book, but I’m enjoying them now for the presentation.