Washington ( CNN ) -- With `` candor comes a measure of vulnerability . '' Sonia Sotomayor wants readers to know in the first pages of her new memoir that this will be different from other books by members of the Supreme Court . The dynamic story of the first Latina to sit as a justice seeks to inspire by revealing often-painful chapters in her self-described `` extraordinary journey '' : her father 's early death from alcoholism ; a complex , often distant relationship with her mother ; growing up poor in the Bronx projects ; self-doubts about her looks , brief failed marriage ; and professional path . But her strengths are celebrated , too : self-reliance to the point of giving herself insulin shots at age 7 , after being diagnosed with diabetes ; her loyalty to a large circle of friends ; and vivid pride in her Puerto Rican heritage . `` Experience has taught me you can not value dreams according to the odds of their coming true , '' she writes in `` My Beloved World '' ( Knopf/Random House ) . `` Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire . That will , wherever it finally leads , does at least move you forward . '' She will speak this week in depth to CNN 's Soledad O'Brien and CNN en Espanol 's Juan Carlos Lopez . ____________ . The 58-year-old Sotomayor was named to the high court in 2009 after 17 years as a federal judge in New York . Her autobiography ends as she takes the bench in 1992 . The narrative is often hauntingly personal : no legal analyses here . Anyone seeking to glean her views of hot-button political issues like abortion , health care reform , or same-sex marriage will be disappointed . Clarence Thomas speaks in court . Some of the most vivid recollections concern her Type 1 diabetes . Sotomayor recounts how she gave herself the shots of out necessity , with her mother gone much of the day at work , and her father 's illness causing his hands to tremble . And within her from that early age was a sense of destiny she has struggled at times to shape . When young Sonia was diagnosed in 1962 , the prospects of living a full life past her 40s were not good . `` I 've lived most of my life inescapably aware that it is precious and finite , '' she writes . `` The reality of diabetes always lurked in the back of my mind , and early on I accepted the probability that I would die young . '' In many ways she considers that decades-long awareness a `` gift '' -- to persevere , grasp life at its fullest every day . She now manages her illness with ease -- at public events she has been seen giving herself needle shots , with hardly anyone noticing . Sotomayor deals candidly with death , especially her father Juan 's spiral from drink , and the effect it had on Sonia 's mother especially . The loving daughter recalls the bottles of booze the family later discovered hidden in `` Papi 's '' bedroom , including under the mattress . Her beloved cousin Nelson 's early death from AIDS is chronicled . In one amazing scene , she unwittingly drives him in his last weeks to an `` appointment . '' `` He asked me to wait , so I sat in the car , parked outside the rundown tenement in Hunts Point ( a neighborhood in the Bronx ) , '' she recalls . `` Inside he 'd been scoring heroin . I wanted to kick myself -- how could anyone , let alone an assistant district attorney who 'd seen everything I 'd seen , be so naive . I recited that essential lesson of Papi 's , simplistic but true : Good people can do bad things , make bad choices . It does n't make them bad people . '' Even Sotomayor 's long smoking habit -- puffing up to three and a half packs a day -- gets the full unvarnished treatment , especially the difficulties of her quitting . ___________ . The other driving narrative in this memoir is her heritage , rich with stories of childhood visits to the island of her parents ' birth . She intimately describes the sounds and smells of her Bronx neighborhood too , especially the weekly visits to her paternal grandmother Mercedes -- whom she called Abuelita -- where food , dancing , and poetry readings brought some of the happiest moments of her childhood . Pizza bomber appeal rejected . The justice says an innate awareness of larger forces around her often-chaotic childhood helped ground her , leaving the girl more trusting of her own instincts than what her once-distant mother and Catholic school education could provide . Her motto when she was in doubt : `` Listen carefully and observe until I figured things out . '' Young Sonia 's evident intelligence and self-determination were boosted by affirmative action , just getting a hold in American society in the early 1970s , when she began applying for college . Sotomayor admits not being fully aware of its impact in her own life at that age , but certain polar memories still leave a bad taste . A fellow Hispanic student criticized her for not being more militant about the discrimination Hispanics were facing , while a high school employee baldly questioned whether as an underprivileged minority she truly deserved to go to Princeton University . `` I felt like an alien landing in a different universe , '' she says of her early college days , relating an experience shared by many of her minority friends . `` There were vultures circling , ready to dive when we stumbled . The pressure to succeed was relentless , even if self-imposed out of fear and insecurity . '' She drove herself hard to overcome that doubt , determined to prove critics wrong . `` I had been admitted to the Ivy League through a special door , and I had more ground than most to make up before I was competing with my classmates on an equal footing , '' she writes . But `` to doubt the worth of minority students ' achievement when they succeed is really only to present another face of the prejudice that would deny them a chance even to try . '' The young woman from the Bronx projects graduated with honors from Princeton and later Yale Law School . ____________ . Sotomayor is unmarried , has no children , and her laser focus on her work as a prosecutor , private lawyer , and later justice -- she admits somewhat sadly -- has often been at the sacrifice of greater personal growth . She concedes that her intensity and drive has initially turned off some people . Her longtime paralegal developed hives when dealing with the often-brusque new boss for the first time . Sotomayor also overheard a law firm colleague describe her as `` one tough bitch '' who would not be pushed around by adversaries . `` I was shaken to hear myself so harshly categorized , '' she recalls . `` When I 'm focused intensely on work , I become oblivious to social cues , or any cues for that matter . '' Seeing Justice Sotomayor on the high court , zeroing in on a lawyer 's presentation at oral argument , is to witness that blend of street-smart manner , combined with a steely intellect . She does not mess around . But in private , her demeanor is another story . When talking with her in small , intimate settings , Sotomayor quickly , easily makes you the sole center of her attention , bringing a warm smile and understanding manner . Being single has also allowed her time to embrace the many dozens of relatives and colleagues -- many of them mentors -- she holds close to her , her `` familia . '' `` I 've always turned the families of friends into family of my own , '' she writes proudly . In her newest role , Sotomayor has become an international role model , something she admits can be affecting and overwhelming at the same time . `` My education continues on the Supreme Court as I reckon with the particular demands of the finality of review , '' in the decisions the justice and her eight colleagues issue . She ends her book , `` My highest aspiration for my work on the Court is to grow in understanding beyond what I can foresee , beyond any borders visible from this vantage . ''
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has a new memoir , `` My Beloved World '' She is the first Latina to sit on the high court . The 58-year-old was named to the court in 2009 after 17 years as a federal judge .