I’ve had some increasing trouble with my eyes for more than a month, and it got so I could hardly see anything, near or distance. Honestly, I was afraid I was on the road to blindness. My optometrist referred me back to Oregon Eye Associates, the folks who did my cataract surgery in November 2017. Turns out scar tissue was the problem, and it was removed with lasers. Now I’m seeing really well, though I’ll still need a new pair of glasses to sharpen everything up.
Last week we watched one of PBS’ pledge specials, Jeff Lynne’s ELO in Hyde Park. I’ve been a huge ELO fan since I first heard them way back in 1971, and a lot of their songs are real favorites, so it was a treat to hear this version of the band in live concert doing many of their hits. Needless to say, the next day I pulled up their CDs and played several of them. Very nice.
All that kept me from doing much reading, though I waded through an ebook with the print size turned way up. Since the laser work, I’ve managed to finish one book.
Loaded Dice by James Swain, (c) 2004, my copy Ballantine Books 2005 mass market paperback. Fourth in Tony Valentine series.
“When Tony Valentine, a master at catching casino cheaters, jets to Las Vegas to look for his missing son, he lands in the middle of a dangerous turf war between rival casinos. Valentine’s longtime pal then taps him to figure out how an amateur won $25,000 at his blackjack tables. But the job is full of land mines. For starters, the suspect bears a strong resemblance to his late wife. Upping the ante, a dead stripper is found with Valentine’s calling card–and her grief-stricken policeman boyfriend is vowing revenge.”
— Goodreads
I liked this pretty well, and it was certainly a change from the other books I’d been reading, so that was nice. If you haven’t tried this series, it’s fascinating for the gambling tricks and scams alone.
How are your eyes?
Are you an ELO fan?
What have you been reading?
Tip the Wink 
I’ve recently lost the vision in my right eye, so can sympathize; alas, in my case the loss is irreversible; some further details here. I’m adapting to the change far better than I’d anticipated, though unfamiliar complex environments can still be a bit of a challenge. Since you ask. 🙂
I’m really sorry to hear that. My recollection is that Bill Crider went through the same thing.
I am sorry to hear you were having trouble with your eyes. I hope everything’s settled now, so that you’ll be able to see more clearly. Oh, and I really like ELO, too.
Vision is everything, Margot. The laser procedure seems to have fixed it, thank goodness.
My vision is good, but cateracts are forming that will need to be removed in the future. My night vision sucks. I’ve been reading some Lovecraft pastiches (an upcoming Cthulhu Week, perhaps?). I like ELO.
Cataract surgery is no big deal, except you’ll be amazed how much better you see and how suddenly you can see color so much better.
My eyes? So far, OK. I have been using reading glasses for years, and a couple of years ago got a pair of “regular” glasses for the rest of the time. We are going to the eye doctor on Friday, so we’ll see. Maybe bifocals are in the cards. Both of us had something I’d never heard of before – narrow angle glaucoma. They were treated with lasers in a few minutes.
ELO? Love them! I recorded that Hyde Park concert, and even though we watched it, we are keeping it to watch again. We saws the reconstituted ELO (basically Lynnne, with all new people) last August and LOVED it. Great concert. I wish they were coming back to Madison Square Garden this year, but I’m not going to New Jersey to see them, Next time.
Books? WESTSIDE by W. M. Akers. Good, fast read. It was set in a 1921 Manhattan with a fence along Broadway from the Battery to the top. It’s a historical mystery in large part, but with some kind of supernatural element, you’ll have to read for yourself. (library book)
DARK CITY LIGHTS: New York Stories (edited by Lawrence Block). Mostly but not all mysteries, but all set in New York. Pretty decent collection – I didn’t skip any stories – even though most of the authors were not familiar to me. Good but not great. (trade pb; bought it online)
MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite. This Nigerian novel is short, with a lot of very short chapters. Korede is a nurse in Lagos. She is tall and thin and plain. Her younger sister Ayoola, is everything she is not – small, gorgeous, attractive to all men, and a sociopath who has killed three men (so far) and relies on her sister to clean up her mess and cover up for her. On the one hand, it is hard to be sympathetic to a doormat, but on the other, you keep turning the pages to find out what happens. Recommended. (library download)
Currently reading a 1961 paperback original collection by Howard Fast, THE EDGE OF TOMORROW, which is better than I expected, without being anything great. I have two books waiting at the library, May read one of them next.
I remember EDGE OF TOMORROW, thought it was pretty good. I read the article on the band yesterday while listening to them, and hadn’t been aware of the several iterations they went through, Lynne being the only constant. I like the earlier albums with the classical touch, which apparently the 80s albums lost. I also really love the first TRAVELING WILLBURYS CD.
Sounds like you’re reading a lot of interesting things, but then you always do. I’m reading a Rex Stout in print and another old Hinlein ebook on the iPad.
Reading WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, which is at the top of the best seller list and deserves to be. It’s a mystery but also a lot more. Owens is a naturalist and really writes about nature beautifully.
I considered it, Patti, but somehow being a “Best Seller” usually puts me off a book. I figure too much hype. With your recommendation, I may give it a try, once the line at the library dies down.
I meant to mention that, after seeing him several times at the Las Vegas Bouchercon, I started reading James Swain’s Tony Valentine books. I’ve read them all, plus some of his others.
I bet that’s where I saw him too. I bought s handful and this is the last of what’s on the shelf.
My husband had cataract surgery in just one eye, then had to have additional surgery on his retina (same eye). But at one point the cataract surgeon had to do some minor lazering to fix a problem with the lens and the cornea around It (???) so might have been the same as your problem. Very glad to hear that your vision is better now.
I recently finished FRIENDS AND TRAITORS by John Lawton, then read CROOKED HEART by Lissa Evans, a historical novel set in the UK during World War II. Loved both of the books.
Diane’s Book Club just read WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING and loved it.
I just had the same laser surgery two weeks ago. Same Result as you. Reading: Lethal White by Robert Galbraith aka J.K.Rowling. Much better than I expected. Starts with one crime and keeps getting more piled on top.