Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

add a few ♥ ♥ ♥ as well for good measureLet's be honest (as you know I will be): I had this book when it came out, but because of all the reviews I read in one of my Shelfari Groups which were going on & on about the "literary" quality; blah, blah, blah, blah, blah; I put the book back into the book sale. I didn't read, not one review that actually told me what the book was really about, had I, I would have read it much sooner.Hence Four (4) years later, I found it again in the book sale & I have finished it in two days and I LOVE IT & Will Keep This in my Personal Library.A female Golem is made for a man as his wife. En route to New York he awakens her, but then he dies and she is free. A kindly Rabbi finds her, takes her in and names her Chava... She gets a job in a bakery; the Rabbi dies & she continues her life...In the desert of the Middle East a Djinn is entrapped in a copper flask by an evil wizard. The flask passes down from one generation to another until it reaches a tinsmith, who while repairing it releases the Djinn. The Djinn becomes Ahmed & works with the tinsmith (who is a jerk, but hey) increasing the tinsmith's business & his bank accountThe Djinn & Golem meet and become "friends"... they have their nocturnal adventures through New York and are working through their relationship when the maker of the Golem arrives in New York & attempts to take control of her.This is "Golem:Jinni For Dummies" The book was rich with legend, history and romantic, Bedouin, Jewish, Syrian, Ghetto (not like slums but melting-pot neighborhood), & privileged life.The pace was actually fast, the relationships well thought out, the writing redolent of heady "Arabian" & fantastical nights, survival, the nature of the mystical, & the etheric qualitative beauty of mystical love.I'm ready to read it again..... Now I understand there is a sequel, but I am not ready for that, as I usually find sequels disappointing.....

So if you're the kind of person who doesn't really get into fantasy, but likes a touch of magic in your stories, this is the book for you. From the title you can guess that the two main characters are a Golem and a Jinni, but the story takes place mostly in New York in 1899. It's so original, but also accessible it really seems like it's destined to be a classic and I would love to see a movie made from it. It has romance, tragedy, and the setting is perfect. I really cared about the characters and wanted them to succeed. It probably helped that the narrator was George Guidell, he's not my favorite narrator, but when I hear his voice it reminds me of many audiobooks I listened to 20+ years ago.

This took me a lot longer to read than I would've liked, partly due to the smallish text (maybe I should've read it on my Kindle), but toward the end, partly because I didn't want to say goodbye to these characters. I read a sequel is coming in the fall, but this book has a perfect ending and while I welcome the chance to read more about Chava the Golem and Ahmad the Jinni, I would have been happy enough with just this.Chava is a Hebrew creature made of clay to be the wife of a man who dies en route from Prussia to New York City in 1899. An elderly rabbi realizes her true nature and takes her under his wing, trying to teach her how to fit in. Ahmad (his real name is unpronounceable) is a jinni released from a flask by a Syrian metalsmith after years of captivity. Still trapped by the iron cuff on his wrist, put there by the wizard who had imprisoned him, the newly-named Ahmad is stuck in human form. Wecker makes full use of their opposing natures as the two non-human creatures happen upon each other one night and form an odd friendship. Chava has been left masterless yet privy to the thoughts of all humans she comes in contact with. Needing neither sleep nor food or drink, possessing no beating heart, she is under constant stress of being found out. A being of superior strength, she poses a danger to society and she can be destroyed by the reading of a particular spell. Freed from a master's control though by nature she was made for such control, Chava struggles to find her place in the city she finds herself in.On the other hand, Ahmad is a creature born to soar and the constraints of human form and the need to also fit into society, are as chafing to his nature as the cuff on his wrist.Dangers come from all directions, including the arrival of the elderly mystic who created Chava who is seeking eternal life, the bewitched man who senses Ahmad's true nature, and instances where both Chava and Ahmad inadvertently reveal their special abilities. Wecker does a wonderful job weaving together the disparate characters and events, including flashbacks, to give us a fully realized, fantastical New York City at the end of the 1800s. Along the way, she gives us a treatise on what it means to be human, as well as an unexpected love story.

It's really not fair to compare this book to The Night Circus, as we are only ever as we are made, no more, no less.

Loved it. Interesting, historical, easy to read, fantasy, religion, this has it all! More please!

Wonderful book.