Happy Friday, everyone!

I'm preparing for my long-wished for vacation, and plan to read as much as possible for the 10 days I'll be work-free. So far, I've gotten a slew of Carl Hiassen novels, China Mieville's "The City & The City," and "How to Say Goodbye in Robot," by Marylander Natalie Standiford.

Standiford's latest novel isn't due out until October, but the YA author, who's also penned the Dating Game series, has tackled that treacherous topic -- friendship between the sexes, and in high school, to boot.

 As to this week's winner: Congratulations, Brian! You've won "You Were Always Mom's Favorite," by Deborah Tannen.

For next week, we've got "Graffiti World" Street Art from Five Continents," by Nicholas Ganz. The updated edition includes more than 2,000 color illustrations of amazing graffiti found all over the world. It's simply gorgeous.

And this is it, kids. I'm going to be gone for more than a week, and poor Dave has to hold down the fort. Not to worry, he has strict instructions to post next week's Freebie Friday on penalty of my incessant whining. I hope you have a great end-of-August!