The Crying of Lot 49 (1966)

Some consider The Crying of Lot 49 Pynchon’s most accessible novel. But Pynchon himself said of it, in his introduction to the Slow Learner collection: “[It] was marketed as a ‘novel,’ … I seem to have forgotten most of what I thought I’d learned up till then.” (p.22).

Of course, the postal horn is present in many of the cover designs, but some go with LA 1960s culture, mysticism, and other less obvious connections.