My Beloved World

by Sonia Sotomayor (read by Rita Moreno)
Library Loan

 

 

Publisher's Summary
 
The  first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme  Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a  candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts  her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey  that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary  determination and the power of believing in oneself.

Here is the  story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would  die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the  refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her  passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was  diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized  she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself  the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a  different life. With only television characters for her professional  role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she  determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an  unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the  highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County  District Attorney’s office, private practice, and appointment to the  Federal District Court before the age of 40. Along the way we see how  she was shaped by her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the  modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends  and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s  infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book,  destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery.

©2013 Sonia Sotomayor (P)2013 Random House Audio          

 

Justice Sotomayor is one tough dude.
 
Any seven year old who decides that she must be the one to administer her own daily insulin shots and sets about to do it herself -- including having to light the gas burner with a match so that she can boil the syringe to sanitize it -- has the tools needed to grow up to be not just a judge but a Supreme Court justice.  That's where her story begins and it was just the first of many hurdles in her life that she met with grit and determination.  I loved every minute of the time I spent listening to her life story.