Order of Book Series
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Thomas Pynchon Books in Order

Thomas Pynchon has written 15 books, published between 1959 and 2025. The first book is Mortality and Mercy in Vienna (1959) and the newest is Shadow Ticket (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
15
Published
1959–2025
Pages on record
4,761 in 12 of 15 books
Reading time
79–119 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 4,761 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 12 of 15 titles with a page count on record.

See all 15 books in order Printable Thomas Pynchon checklist
Photo of Thomas Pynchon, author

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr., born in 1937, is an American novelist of postmodern fiction: dense, complex books marked by paranoia, absurd humour and borrowings from history, art, science and popular culture. 15 catalogued titles span 1959 to 2025, beginning with Mortality and Mercy in Vienna and reaching Shadow Ticket. V., The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow sit inside that run. Pynchon is notoriously reclusive, with barely any photographs of the novelist in print, and served two years in the United States Navy before taking an English degree at Cornell University.

How many Thomas Pynchon books are there?

Thomas Pynchon has 15 books, released between 1959 and 2025.

Thomas Pynchon Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 15 Thomas Pynchon books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of The Small Rain by Thomas Pynchon (1959)
  2. Cover of Low-Lands by Thomas Pynchon (1960)
  3. Cover of V. by Thomas Pynchon (1963)
  4. Cover of The Secret Integration by Thomas Pynchon (1964)
  5. Cover of The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (1966)
  6. Cover of Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)
  7. Cover of Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon (1997)
  8. Cover of Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon (2006)
  9. Cover of Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (2009)
  1. 1
    Mortality and Mercy in Vienna1959 · 24 pages · confirmed 2/4
    195924
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    The Small Rain1959 · 20 pages · confirmed 2/4
    195920
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Low-Lands1960 · 32 pages · confirmed 2/4
    196032
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    V.1963 · 533 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1963533
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Secret Integration1964 · 47 pages · confirmed 2/4
    196447
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    The Crying of Lot 491966 · 183 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1966183
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Gravity's Rainbow1973 · 784 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1973784
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Entropy1983 · confirmed 2/4
    1983–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Slow Learner1984 · confirmed 2/4
    1984–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Vineland1990 · 385 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1990385
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    Mason & Dixon1997 · 784 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1997784
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Against the Day2006 · 1104 pages · confirmed 2/4
    20061104
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Inherent Vice2009 · 369 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2009369
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Bleeding Edge2013 · 496 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2013496
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Shadow Ticket2025 · confirmed 2/4
    2025–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Thomas Pynchon books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Standalone books

15 books

15 Thomas Pynchon titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Thomas Pynchon Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Thomas Pynchon books run from Mortality and Mercy in Vienna (1959) to Shadow Ticket (2025), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Thomas Pynchon in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Thomas Pynchon books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 15 Thomas Pynchon books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Thomas Pynchon

Start with Mortality and Mercy in Vienna (1959), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Thomas Pynchon book?

Shadow Ticket (2025) is the newest Thomas Pynchon book released so far.

Is there a new Thomas Pynchon book coming?

No next Thomas Pynchon book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Awards Thomas Pynchon has won

Wikidata records 3 awards and 6 nominations for Thomas Pynchon. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

Thomas Pynchon at a glance

Still publishing
Thomas Pynchon published a book as recently as 2025.
Release pace
Thomas Pynchon books have appeared about one every 5 years on average.
Length
4,761 pages across the 12 of 15 books with a recorded length, a median of 377 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Thomas Pynchon books, 4 of 15, were published in the 1960s.

What the Thomas Pynchon books are about

8 of the 15 Thomas Pynchon books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: historical fiction is tagged on 2 of 8. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.