In her post Thornton Wilder & Bridges, guest writer Teri Blair said this about Mr. Schminda, her former teacher:
Years ago, I was given a reading list by my 11th grade English teacher. I was in the college prep class, and the list of 100 or so books were ones he wanted us to read before we graduated from high school. It wasn’t just his idea. He told us a committee of English professors had compiled it. These books were considered the bare-bones-minimum to have read before we darkened the first door of a collegiate hall.
This piqued the interest of several readers — myself included — and we asked to see the list. Teri generously reproduced it from mimeographed pages carried with her since high school. So, without further ado…(drumroll)…and in no apparent order except that which made sense to Mr. Schminda et al., here is…
THE “95 BOOKS” LIST
Provided by Teri Blair
JOHN STEINBECK
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
CANNERY ROW
HERMAN MELVILLE
MOBY DICK
WHITE JACKET
TYPEE
OMOO
WILLIAM FAULKNER
LIGHT IN AUGUST
INTRUDER IN THE DUST
MARK TWAIN
PUDD’NHEAD WILSON
CONNECTICUT YANKEE
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
THE DEERSLAYER
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
WILLA CATHER
O PIONEERS!
MY ANTONIA
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
A FAREWELL TO ARMS
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
THE SUN ALSO RISES
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
THE GREAT GATSBY
THORNTON WILDER
THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY
OUR TOWN
THEODORE DREISER
THE AMERICAN TRAGEDY
SISTER CARRIE
FRANK NORRIS
THE OCTOPUS
MCTEAGUE
STEPHEN CRANE
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE
MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS
WALTER VAN TILBURG CLARK
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT
JOHN HERSEY
THE CHILD BUYER
DANIEL KEYES
FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON
OLE ROLVAAG
GIANTS IN THE EARTH
WILLIAM BARRETT
LILIES OF THE FIELD
SINCLAIR LEWIS
MAIN STREET
ARROWSMITH
BABBITT
DODSWORTH
ELMER GANTRY
EDNA FERBER
CIMMARRON
GIANT
ICE PALACE
UPTON SINCLAIR
THE JUNGLE
OWEN WISTER
THE VIRGINIAN
NORMAN MAILER
THE NAKED AND THE DEAD
HERMON WOUK
THE CAINE MUTINY
HARPER LEE
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
LORRAINE HANSBERRY
A RAISIN IN THE SUN
OLIVER LAFARGE
LAUGHING BOY
THOMAS FALL
THE ORDEAL OF RUNNING STANDING
PAUL ZINDEL
THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON
MARIGOLDS
JAMES AGEE
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY
ROBERT PENN WARREN
ALL THE KING’S MEN
JEAN MERRILL
THE PUSHCART WAR
JOHN KNOWLES
A SEPARATE PEACE
DALTON TRUMBO
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN
MICHAEL CRICHTON
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
THE TERMINAL MAN
ARTHUR CLARKE
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
RAY BRADBURY
FAHRENHEIT 451
NEVIL SHUTE
ON THE BEACH
PAT FRANK
ALAS, BABYLON
MARGARET MITCHELL
GONE WITH THE WIND
BETTY SMITH
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN
RICHARD WRIGHT
NATIVE SON
RALPH ELLISON
THE INVISIBLE MAN
HAL BORLAND
WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE
LEONA RIENOW
THE YEAR OF THE LAST EAGLE
HAMLIN GARLAND
SON OF THE MIDDLE BORDER
DAUGHTER OF THE MIDDLE BORDER
EDITH WHARTON
AGE OF INNOCENCE
JACK LONDON
WHITE FANG
CALL OF THE WILD
SEA WOLF
CARL SANDBURG
REMEMBRANCE ROCK
PEARL BUCK
THE GOOD EARTH
RICHARD H. DANA
TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
SCARLET LETTER
JESSAMYN WEST
THE FRIENDLY PERSUASION
ALDOUS HUXLEY
BRAVE NEW WORLD
SAUL BELLOW
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH
ARTHUR MILLER
THE CRUCIBLE
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
WASHINGTON IRVING
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
RIP VAN WINKLE
EDGAR ALLAN POE
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
THE RAVEN
BRET HARTE
SELECTED STORIES OF BRET HARTE
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
WINESBURG, OHIO
J.D.SALINGER
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
LANGSTON HUGHES
SELECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES
JAMES THURBER
MY LIFE AND HARD TIMES
EUGENE O’NEILL
BEYOND THE HORIZON
Postscript
In a brief email exchange about her former teacher, Teri said:
Mr. Schminda is retired now, but lives in the same small town where he taught English to high school juniors. He whet my appetite for good books, and it was more than passing on the list of classics to read. He was thrilled about literature and authors.
One of the books we read the year he was my teacher was Moby Dick. I remember him pacing up and down the aisles between desks waving his paperback in the air and talking about Captain Ahab. He got fired up thinking about the adventure of the whale hunt.
When we read The Grapes of Wrath, I was desperate to go to Oklahoma and retrace the steps of the Okies fleeing the dust bowl. I wanted to know and love books as Mr. Schminda did. We all had to do an in-depth study of a writer; I picked James Weldon Johnson, my friend Pam chose Stephan Crane, and Sherri’s was John Steinbeck.
Mr. Schminda told us that we’d have to write one paper after another once we got to college. He told us by the time we left 11th grade he was determined that we’d know how to write term papers. We wrote and wrote and wrote. And when I got to college, thanks to his instruction, I knew how to write.
Thanks, Teri, for sharing Mr. Schminda with us, and thank you Mr. Schminda for inspiring Teri and countless others with your passion for reading and writing.
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