iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Ode to Parenting a 13-year-old Boy

Text exchange between parent and child who will still eat dinner

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I read Waterline by Aram Mrjoian back in June, and even if the rest of my summer hadn't involved the Great Lakes and Grief in some way, it still would have hit all the right buttons. Check it out, it's really good.

One of the early pages of Waterline, where it may feel like I'm spoiling something but I'm really not

020

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Great Laking it for the next few days

A kid running along the beach at Lake Michigan. The other kid is just standing there.

010

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Defending my title: Saddest Boy in the PICU

000

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Keeping this going -- every time I drive by the Ba'hai Temple, I have to remind everyone to read "Orchids" by Stuart Dybek

The short story "Orchids" by Stuart Dybek. Well, part of it...

021

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Nice to see @greatplacebooks.bsky.social get a little representation in the latest alumni newsletter from my HS. Will keep an eye out for Devin at the next reunion...

020

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Happy 9th Anniversary to me keeping the bones in my right hand intact by opting not to stretch all the way out and barehand this bomb of a home run from Kyle Schwarber

Picture of Mike at a Cubs game 9 years ago, not catching a home run that would have crushed the bones in his hand

030

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

I'm sure I gave a different answer last time we did this but going with 1965 this time (also aside from Unplugged, not sure PJ, Nirvana, etc are in my Top 10) Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or Alice In Chains.

020

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

'Tis the season...Let Jeopardy inspire you read/re-read it

Dec 23 Jeopardy clue about the fantastic book "Last Night at the Lobster"

261

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Share a 90s movie you think deserves more love

Poster for State of Grace starring Sean Penn and Ed Harris

030

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Watching my son's baseball practice to the right car stereo tunes wasn't the worst way to end the day

Sun easing down over the baseball diamond

Car stereo playing Right Back to It by Waxahatchee

020

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Turns out, I just wanted to steal a bunch of orchids, sell them out of a convertible, and head to Mexico like in the Stuart Dybek story ("Orchids")

010

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Just spent two weeks in Evanston Hospital and would stop and look at the back of the Ba'hai Temple a few times a day. Didn't realize till I was close to getting out it wasn’t purely out of a need for spiritual fulfillment.

Back of the Ba'hai Temple in Evanston, IL

110

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

I see you went with a normal cover for The Natural...

Cover art for The Natural by Malamud showing Bump Bailey crashing thru the outfield wall

000

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Finishing a re-read of Winter's Bone while the sun sets and the birds won't shut up and loving when a perfect book gets more perfect

The last page of Winters Bone by Daniel Woodrell

030

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I somehow forgot Michael Clayton and The Nice Guys but otherwise this works for me

Mike Prask's list of 10 best movies of the 21st century -- Hot Fuzz, In Bruges, Rogue One, first Spidervetse, Children of Men, Tenenbaums, Almost Famous, Ratatouille, Superbad, and Eternal Sunshine

020

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Even though I'm working with bigger quantities, it's impossible to do this and not feel like Parker Posey grilling her lonely, single wing in "Guffman"

One single grilled chicken wing, surrounded by several friends and a few chicken thighs

000

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Same! It was part of this collection we read in 6th grade and was one of the few that has stuck with me. I definitely don't remember reading Munro at age 12...

110

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

It's perfect Hey You Assholes weather in these parts this evening

The new book by Kyle Seibel and a delicious beer on a nice night

071

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Can't remember who here recommended this, but I finished it a week or two ago, and this closing passage has stuck (and stuck) with me

The book A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

The end of A Month in the Country that only counts as a spoiler if you didn't know nostalgia can be painful

010

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Also, just making note now of this possibly-helpful wrestling Kama Sutra thing on the side wall

000

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Our hotel art in heaven or Iowa or wherever. Happy Opening Day!

Oil painting of the Black Sox coming out of the cornfield in my Iowa City hotel rpom

141

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Big mail day for stories with protagonists whose dreams and goals shouldn't be questioned in any way, shape, or form

True Failure by Alex Higley and Hot Rod on BluRay

040

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

I know WHY I didn't read a ton in '24, but I was still surprised to see how little. Ended strong though - check out the new Higley when you can...

030

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

I'm definitely enjoying this novel, especially since it's 75% in and about my adopted hometown, but if you write a scene at the (very real) Diner Grill and no one is eating a Slinger, ordering a Slinger, or regretting the Slinger they ate two days ago, you have missed an opportunity for your readers

The definitive Highland Park IL novel? Love and Shame and Love by Peter Orner

At least one person in the Diner Grill should be eating a Slinger

020

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Stuck in time at the shopping mall bookstore

Painted banner that should say Read 25 Books in 2025 but says 21 in 2021

060

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

This is ridiculous. I listened to the live MJ Lenderman WAY more than I listened to any Springsteen this year...

Prask Amazon Music Year in Review, pretty accurately

130

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving, from me and Richard Ford

Story excerpt from "Going to the Dogs" from the collection Rock Springs, which is all killer, no filler

040

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

In what's become a subconscious reflex in our house, the day the Christmas Tree goes up, chicken gets fried.

030

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

First snow of the year, first chance to skid around the corners in my neighborhood, thinking about the end of "Ralph the Duck" by Frederick Busch.

Description from Ralph the Duck by Fred Busch of the narrator skidding through snowy road conditions

140

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Going with a more immersive approach with the new one from @alexhigley.bsky.social -- only reading it on trains like the one on the cover

A copy of True Failure by Alex Higley in front of an actual Metra train

060

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 29/12/2023

Lindsay's newest book was an amazing one to end the year on - had a similar vibe to Lush Life by Richard Price where you know the murderer early on but can't stop sifting thru the aftermath with the characters. Check it out!

The novel Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter

111

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 04/11/2023

This book is amazing. A pretty simple idea executed perfectly, like Subtraction or Last Night at the Lobster. Also if I get so mad at the protagonist 2/3 of the way thru, I need to put the book down, they're doing something right.

000

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 17/09/2023

Can't remember who tipped me off about this book, but they were right, it was fantastic

000

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 09/09/2023

Great day to dig into the inaugural release from @greatplacebooks.bsky.social - Blocks World by Emma Catherine Perry!

032

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 18/08/2023

Appreciate the clipped newspaper recommendation someone snuck into the library copy of the book I just read

000

Mike Prask @mprask.bsky.social · 11/08/2023

Accidental harmony between vacation spot and vacation book

030