9 Guide Books on Living Large

Bored of just sitting around in your bank vault? It's time to hit the books for some advice on getting the most bang for your million bucks.

1. Bright Lights Big City, Jay McInerney

Via amazon.com

What it’s about: The novel follows a young man, living in Manhattan as if he owned it, through nightclubs, fashion shows, editorial offices, and loft parties as he attempts to outstrip mortality and the recurring approach of dawn.

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Perfect for: Young trust fund babies who’ve escaped El Aye (LA) for an edgier scene.

2. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Via amazon.com

What it’s about: A story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

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Perfect for: Luxurious hipsters looking to capitalize on the debauchery of the early 20th century.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort

What it's about: By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids waiting at home and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king, here, in Jordan Belfort's own words, is the story of the ill-fated genius they called the Wolf of Wall Street.

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Perfect for: Those who “work hard” but play even harder and are allegedly looking for tips on staying out of “Martha Stewart” Jail

4. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson

Via amazon.com

What it’s about: The best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.

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Perfect for: Antsy party animals looking for a way to top last weekend’s getaway.

5. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe

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What it’s about: Financial "Master of the Universe" Sherman McCoy is a millionaire bond trader at Wall Street's Pierce and Pierce. This is a novel where the ego-steeped trading floors mingle with the tumult of the Bronx streets during 80s New York.

Via Perfect for: Adrenaline junkies who like fast cars and are on the lookout for the ‘real’ New York.

Perfect for: Adrenaline junkies who like fast cars and are on the lookout for the ‘real’ New York.

6. Bringing Down the House, Ben Mezrich

Via amazon.com

What it’s about: The best and the brightest of M.I.T.'s math students and engineers take up blackjack under the guidance of an eccentric mastermind. Their small blackjack club develops from an experiment in counting cards on M.I.T.'s campus into a ring of card savants with a system for playing large and winning big. In less than two years they take some of the world's most sophisticated casinos for more than three million dollars.

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Perfect for: Social climbers with genius I.Q.s whose life goals include a biopic in which they are depicted by Jim Sturgess, George Clooney, or Katie Chang.

7. Trump: The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump

Via amazon.com

What it’s about: Written in the 80s, this begins with a week in Trump’s high-stakes life. We see just how he operates day to day—how he runs his business and how he runs his life—as he chats with friends and family, clashes with enemies, efficiently buys up Atlantic City’s top casinos, and changes the face of the New York City skyline…all before his 40th birthday.

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Perfect for: High-flying young traders raring to show their older compatriots who’s the boss and who’s the apprentice.

8. Emma, Jane Austen

Via amazon.com

What it’s about: The beautiful, clever, rich and single Emma Woodhouse amuses herself by interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.

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Perfect for: Debutantes and future trophy wives who’ve just had their coming out balls and need something new to distract themselves with.

9. Rich Kids of Instagram: A Novel, The Creator of Rich Kids of Instagram with Maya Sloan

Via books.simonandschuster.com

What it’s about: The “Rich Kids of Instagram” are not your typical well-to-do brats. These “kids” drive Ferraris, fly to their weekend getaways in private jets, and post self-indulgent photos of themselves online as frequently—and as wantonly—as they blow wads of cash. Not to mention that they’re more involved in sex, drugs, and power plays than most people twice their age. Rich Kids of Instagram revolves around a core group of spoiled young people, from a Southern Belle poultry-empire heiress to a media mogul’s driven daughter and an old-money rifle heir with a Mayflower legacy; to a nouveau riche outsider who is thrust into the members-only universe of the .1%, with scandalous results.

Perfect for: Anyone who's ever wanted an inside look into the lives of the (undeserved) rich and (somewhat deserved) scandalous. Blow some lines.