Reading has been an important part of Meredith Vieira since she received "Eloise" book by Kay Thompson as a gift when she was a child. It continued through her fondest early American literature classes while attending Tufts University to all of her jobs reporting the news. She shares her lifelong love of the printed word as host of the PBS offering "The Great American Read."
Since Sept. 11, the public television network has held a national vote to select which of 100 novels is America's best-loved novel. The final results will be revealed in the episode airing Tuesday. Going into the final week before the last show in the eight-part series, the top 10 vote getters were (in alphabetical order) "Charlotte's Web," "Chronicles of Narnia" (series), "Gone with the Wind," "Harry Potter" (series), "Jane Eyre," "Little Women," "Lord of the Rings" (series), "Outlander" (series), "Pride and Prejudice" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."
"There were so many great books on the list, but this particular grouping does not surprise me. I think they all deserve the recognition that they have received, and there are none on there that I went 'Oh, gee, I don't know.' These are books by definition have large bases," Vieira says. "I think it is a terrific list.
"The magic of novels is you are drawn to story and characters. You don't go in thinking 'Will this book change my life?' You go in because it looks like a good book and it tricks you. It draws you in and suddenly you are examining who you are because of these characters that you meet."
PBS Vice President of Programming and Development Bill Gardner agrees with Vieira that the series has shown the love and loyalty so many have for their favorite novel. Since the series launched, millions of book lovers and literary advocates from across the country cast their vote. He stresses the list provides a unique window into the country's "vibrant and diverse national culture."
The search has prompted many readers to use social media, with a combined following of more than 200,000 book lovers across Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. "The Great American Read" Facebook Book Club has grown to a community of nearly 50,000 bibliophiles, while video content related to the series from PBS Digital Studios and weekly episode streams have generated 5.1 million views across PBS platforms, Facebook and YouTube.
The final 10 novels are a broad mix with seven of the top 10 books written by female authors, 11 of the top 20 written by American authors and 201 years dividing the most recently published book and the oldest. The one thing all the novels have in common is dealing with adversity, whether it be poverty, racism or a broken heart.
"I think adversity is a very universal theme," Vieira says. "How do we overcome obstacles in our lives? How are we as individuals? What are our values? What do we care about as a people, as a society? I think that tends to be a theme in so many books. Maybe we are all searching for answers."
Vieira started looking to novels as her way of seeing the world when she was a child. The greatest gift she could get at Christmas or for her birthday was a book. The Eloise book she got had a major impact because the character showed her it wasn't necessary to be perfect and it's OK to have spunk. The other part of the story that fascinated Vieira was Eloise lived in New York, and Vieira knew one day that was where she wanted to live.
Work has taken Vieira to New York often to work on such programs as "Dateline NBC," "Rock Center with Brian Williams," "CBS Morning News" and "Today." Her other credits include a stint on "The View," hosting "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" and her own chat show "The Meredith Vieira Show."
As part of the campaign for "The Great American Read," more than 75 local public television stations in 36 states have held in excess of 150 community engagement activities, including book clubs, author appearances, trivia nights, screening events, book-themed family activities and costume parties. The idea is to get people to read.
Vieira has always loved reading but is currently struggling with trying to make her way through George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones." She laughs and says while she continues the good fight to finish it, the book has been confusing because of all the people, places and things.
"There's a map. I can't take a book with a map," Vieira says with a laugh.
