IT’S HOUR 12, Y’ALL. We’re a quarter of the way through this thing, and you 👏 are 👏killing 👏 it. 👏

This is a perfect opportunity to do some stretching, refill your snacks or-—you know—eat an actual meal if you’re into that, and drink some water while you crack those page-turning knuckles and get ready for our second challenge!

Before we dive in, here are the winners from the Hour 6 challenge:

Cassandra Wifert

Lindsay Knutson

Maria Angelis Rojas

Christina (christinastephaniereads)

Carla (simoes)

Chelsie Schadt

Simona

ingeveldkamp @leeskipje

Audrey Mattevi

Jana Eichhorn

Laura Cerone

Donia K

Kennedy Gelinas

Head on over to the prize page to stake your claim! And now, the second challenge:

One of the best things about reading, in general, is that it takes us outside of our own lives. Whether that’s through a cozy mystery, a fantastical adventure, or quiet poetry that reminds us of the beauty in the world, all those books on your shelves can help you do just about anything.

More specifically, we here at 24in48 HQ love books that open us up to the diverse experiences of humans the world over. Reading opens us up to truths, ways of thinking, and worldviews that we’d never have otherwise (particularly as three cisgender white ladies). And we’re always looking for more books to do just that.

For this challenge, share a book that has expanded your worldview or changed the way you look at something, whether it’s another culture, gender, race, a new concept, social justice issues…the possibilities are endless.

Here are ours:

Rachel: Homegoing by Yaa Ghasi wasn’t my first foray into “diverse” literature by any means. I’d been intentionally and consciously trying to expand my reading to find 

Cover of Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

 books and authors that didn’t look or sound or think like me for a while. But it was the first book I read that took my perception of the “American” experience and turned it on its head. It’s one thing to know academically about slavery and its impact on Black Americans; it’s something else entirely to be shown how generation after generation is damaged and scarred by the brutality forced upon vast swaths of people. It is also something else entirely to be reminded that America has never dealt with its abuse of slaves and its ongoing abuse of their descendants. The impact of Ghasi’s generational saga has never left me, and I am reminded of the story every time another abuse of Black Americans is in the news.

Cover of Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Kerry: “It’s so hard to pick just one, but I’m going with Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. I’d read news coverage and nonfiction works about Katrina and many ways the system failed communities of color specifically in its aftermath, but Ward’s fiction brought the very human, very individualized world of the families most impacted by the storm’s path to light in ways that have stayed with me years after my initial read of the book.”

Cover of Evicted by Matthew Desmond

Kristen: “I remember gasping, crying, and sitting in heartbroken sickness at various moments as Matthew Desmond shared stories of poverty-stricken Americans stuck in a system stacked against them in Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. It blew my understanding of poverty, the housing crisis, and welfare benefits wide open. Since reading it, I haven’t stopped thinking about what home means to people who are—over and over again—prevented from maintaining one.”

If you’re posting a photo of your entry on social media, don’t forget to use the official hashtag #24in48 so other readers can find you, and tag us so we can see! We’ll post the winners of this challenge in six hours (Hour 18), so make sure you check back to see if you won! You’ve also got 12 more hours to enter the Intro Survey! 

Reminder: This 24in48, we’re trying something new to get a geographic snapshot of all participants and log every book read over the weekend! Let us know where you’re reading from here, and track your books as you finish them here!