Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | V. | 1963 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 2 | The Crying of Lot 49 | 1966 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 3 | Gravity’s Rainbow | 1973 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 4 | Vineland | 1990 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 5 | Mason & Dixon | 1997 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 6 | Against the Day | 2006 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 7 | Inherent Vice | 2009 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 8 | Bleeding Edge | 2013 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
| 9 | Shadow Ticket | 2025 | Thomas Pynchon | Buy |
This page lists all standalone novels by Thomas Pynchon, one of the most influential American writers of the postwar era. His nine novels span from V. in 1963 to Shadow Ticket in 2025, covering more than six decades of fiction.
Pynchon’s early work established his reputation. V. introduced his characteristic blend of paranoia, encyclopedic detail, and dark comedy. The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) is his shortest novel and the one most readers start with. Gravity’s Rainbow (1973), set during and after World War II, won the National Book Award and is widely considered one of the most important American novels of the twentieth century. After a long gap, Vineland appeared in 1990, followed by Mason & Dixon (1997), a historical novel about the two British surveyors written in imitation eighteenth-century prose.
His later novels include Against the Day (2006), a sprawling story set between the 1893 World’s Fair and the years after World War I; Inherent Vice (2009), a more accessible detective story set in 1970s Los Angeles that Paul Thomas Anderson adapted into a film; and Bleeding Edge (2013), set in New York City around September 11, 2001. Shadow Ticket, announced in 2025, is his most recent novel.