Page Against the Machine Book Group (June 2026 Theme)

Check out this space for suggested titles of Page Against the Machine book group's current month's theme!

For June 2026 , the theme is: Bildungsroman: Read any book that falls into the genre—a novel that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood.



Updated May 5, 2026
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The alchemist
Coelho, Paulo
Paper Book
An international bestseller Over 80 million copies sold worldwide A PBS Great American Read Top 100 pick A special 25th anniversary edition of the extraordinary international bestseller, including a new Foreword by Paulo Coelho. Combining magic, mysticism...
All day is a long time
Sanchez, David
Paper Book
The General Fiction Gold Medal Winner of the 2022 Florida Book Awards A Finalist for the Twenty-Third NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award "Urgent, sharp and expansive...this exceptional debut is not a cautionary tale about the perils of drugs, but it certainly is the story of so many...
Arcadia
Groff, Lauren.
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton comes a lyrical and gripping story of a great American dream. In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what would become a commune centered on...
Black swan green : a novel
Mitchell, David
Paper Book
From highly acclaimed two-time Man Booker finalist David Mitchell comes a glorious, sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. In his previous novels, David Mitchell dazzled us with his narrative scope and his virtuosic command of multiple...
Boy from the North Country : a novel
Sussman, Sam Evan
Paper Book
A fiction finalist for the 75th National Jewish Book Awards "This portrait of a young man caring for his mother is a rare combination of boldface intrigue and profound emotion." --Oprah Daily, The Best Fall Books of 2025 "Come for the riveting father-son mystery,...
Bright lights, big city : a novel
McInerney, Jay.
Paper Book
With this publication in 1984, Jay McInerney became a literary sensation, heralded as the voice of a generation. This remarkable novel of youth and New York remains one of the most beloved, imitated, and iconic novels in America. "A brilliant and moving work-unique, refreshing,...
Casebook : a novel
Simpson, Mona
Paper Book
From the acclaimed and award-winning author of Anywhere But Here and My Hollywood, a powerful new novel about a young boy's quest to uncover the mysteries of his unraveling family. What he discovers turns out to be what he least wants to know: the inner workings of his parents' lives....
Commonwealth : a novel
Patchett, Ann
Paper Book
"Exquisite. . .Commonwealth is impossible to put down." -- New York Times #1 New York Times Bestseller | NBCC Award Finalist | New York Times Best Book of the Year | USA Today Best Book | TIME Magazine Top 10 Selection | Oprah Favorite Book | New York Magazine Best...
David Copperfield
Dickens, Charles
Paper Book
When David Copperfield escapes from the cruelty of his childhood home, he embarks on a journey to adulthood which will lead him through comedy and tragedy, love and heartbreak and friendship and betrayal. Over the course of his adventure, David meets an array of eccentric characters and learns...
Demon Copperhead : a novel
Kingsolver, Barbara
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post...
The fortress of solitude : a novel
Lethem, Jonathan.
Paper Book
This is the story of two boys, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude. They are friends and neighbors, but because Dylan is white and Mingus is black, their friendship is not simple. This is the story of their Brooklyn neighborhood, which is almost exclusively black despite the first whispers of something that...
Give me some truth : a novel with paintings
Gansworth, Eric
Paper Book
NPR Best Books of the Year * Boston Globe Best Books of the Year * School Library Journal Best Books of the Year * Chicago Public Library Best Books of the YearA powerful new book from Eric Gansworth, author of If I Ever Get Out of Here, that speaks the truth on race, relationships, and rock from...
Great expectations
Dickens, Charles
Paper Book
Now an original series on FX and Hulu starring Olivia Coleman From A to Z, the Penguin Drop Caps series collects 26 unique hardcovers-featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series...
Greenwich
Broad, Kate (Writer of fiction)
Paper Book
A People Magazine "Best New Books" * An Amazon Best Books of July - Literature & Fiction * A Vanity Fair Summer Read "A stunning debut...Fast-paced, beautifully written, vividly peopled, Greenwich is impossible to put down." -- Adrienne Brodeur,...
A little life : a novel
Yanagihara, Hanya
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A stunning "portrait of the enduring grace of friendship" (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * MAN...
Never let me go
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Paper Book
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER * From the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Remains of the Day comes "a Gothic tour de force" (The New York Times) with an extraordinary twist--a moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric modern classic. One of The New York Times's 10...
Norwegian wood
Murakami, Haruki
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of Kafka on the Shore: A magnificent coming-of-age story steeped in nostalgia, "a masterly novel" (The New York Times Book Review) blending the music, the mood, and the ethos that were the sixties with a young man's hopeless and heroic first love. ...
The old man and the sea
Hemingway, Ernest
Paper Book
A Scribner Classics Edition Ernest Hemingway's most beloved and popular novel--now in a gorgeous new package designed for the modern reader. The last novel Ernest Hemingway saw published, The Old Man and the Sea has proved itself to be one of the most...
The palace at the end of the sea : a novel
Tolkien, Simon
Paper Book
A young man comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity--and a cause--at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling, timely, and emotional historical saga. New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling's world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its...
Persepolis : the story of a childhood
Satrapi, Marjane
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book A Time Magazine “Best Comix of the Year” A San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Best-seller Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in...
Playworld : a novel
Ross, Adam
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD PRIZE * A big and big-hearted novel--one enthralling, transformative year in the life of a child actor coming of age in a bygone Manhattan, from the critically acclaimed author of Mr. Peanut NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY...
A prayer for Owen Meany : a novel
Irving, John
Paper Book
In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys--best friends--are playing in a Little League baseball game in New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother. Owen Meany believes he didn't hit the ball by accident. He believes he is God's instrument. What happens to...
Ravishing
Surya, Eshani
Paper Book
A brilliant and compelling debut, Ravishing shines a light on the dark enticements of the beauty industry and how it capitalizes on our desire to be someone we are not A provocative, darkly surreal novel of two Indian American siblings caught in the clutches of a beauty tech...
Siddhartha
Hesse, Hermann
Paper Book
Here the spirituality of the East and the West have met in a novel that enfigures deep human wisdom with a rich and colorful imagination. Written in a prose of almost biblical simplicity and beauty, it is the story of a soul's long quest in search of he ultimate answer to the enigma of man...
Sons and lovers
Lawrence, D. H.
Paper Book
This side of paradise
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Paper Book
F. Scott Fitzgerald's romantic and witty first novel--written when he was only twenty-three years old and catapulted Fitzgerald to instant fame--is now available in a beautifully designed special collector's edition. This Side of Paradise is F. Scott Fitzgerald's...
A tree grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Betty
Paper Book
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century. From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg,...
An uncommon education : a novel
Percer, Elizabeth.
Paper Book
For fans of Prep, Dead Poets Society, and Special Topics in Calamity Physics comes an elegant and remarkably insightful debut novel. "A moving and bittersweet coming-of-age story about love, loss, friendship, ambition, and the power of memory." -J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Commencement...
What kind of paradise : a novel
Brown, Janelle
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A teenage girl breaks free from her father's world of isolation to discover that her whole life is a lie in this "absorbing and well-crafted" (The Washington Post) novel from the New York Times bestselling author...
What will people think? : a novel
Hamdan, Sara
Paper Book
A Jimmy Fallon's Book Club Finalist Mia's secret comedy career, forbidden office crush, and a long-guarded family secret take center stage, threatening her newfound confidence and her one shot at fame in this hilarious, heartfelt coming-of-age story perfect for fans of...
The year of the wind : a novel
Pacheco, Karina
Paper Book
A lyrical novel depicting the devastating effects of political violence in Peru on three women's lives Nina, a Peruvian writer in Spain on the eve of the pandemic, is pulled back into her nation's fraught history after a fleeting encounter with a woman who is a doppelgänger of...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.