If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller gives the reader the impression that there <i>must</i> be a system at play and gives up some of its secrets easily. However, the re remains a persistent feeling, after reading each section, that there are other connections - threads of deliberate meaning - between them all that slip through your fingers as you desperately try to clutch more and more fragments passing by.<p>It's one of my favorite books precisely because it generates this feeling and led me to Perec's Life: A User's Manual among other fantastic works.
As a fan of Calvino I will say that <i>If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller</i> is somewhat more enjoyable after you've read a bunch of other Calvino, since it has a somewhat cheeky, self-referential feel and the more you sympathize with the author the more you may like it.<p>Numbers in the Dark is very good as a place to start.
Great article - "Invisible Cities" was my introduction to his work and remains a favorite.