When she was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2009, Sotomayor was widely regarded as a highly competent jurist who would add to the Court's moderate wing. The fact that she was of Hispanic origin was expected to broaden the Court's cultural breadth.

From all indications, Justice Sotomayor will fulfill those expectations with opinions that are thoughtful and incisive. What we now know is that Sotomayor also came to the court and to national prominence with a determination to make her accomplishments into a narrative intended to move a wider audience. "The challenges I faced," she explains, "are not uncommon, but neither have they kept me from uncommon achievements."

Sotomayor soon selected a literary agent, Peter W. Bernstein (a former journalist who happens to be a friend of mine and who is building a list of sophistication and taste). Only Alfred A. Knopf was approached, and according to financial disclosure reports Sotomayor filed, the advance was $1.175 million. In past pieces, I have been critical of the concept of public figures securing large sums for books as a payday for their service, but I have to concede that I am losing that argument, since virtually no one else seems to object to the practice.

As a collaborator, Sotomayor chose Zara Houshmand, an Iranian-American poet who apparently worked with transcriptions of the justice's dictation to shape the prose. The book has been simultaneously released in Spanish. As with all books these days, the price range, depending on the format, is as low as $12.99 for an e-book and up to $27.95 for the printed version without a discount.

From the early weeks of sales, My Beloved World appears on track to outsell the most recent Supreme Court memoir, Clarence Thomas's 2007 book, My Grandfather's Son, which Publisher's Weekly said sold over 200,000 copies -- a strong result at a time when e-books still barely registered. In tone and content, Thomas's book reflected his dour persona, and I don't recall that he made friends galore in his limited appearances to promote the book. In contrast, Sotomayor has charmed audiences at signings across the country with a natural warmth and humor, plus shown the patience to sign every copy purchased by turnouts as high as a thousand people at a time.

The deeper value of My Beloved World is unfolding as the book reaches readers. While it wasn't clear from her confirmation hearings or her initial work on the court, Sotomayor has now emerged as a symbol of what a person -- in this case, a Latina woman raised largely by her devoted grandmother, her mother who sacrificed much on her behalf, and mentors who encouraged her determination -- can achieve despite the odds. In an interview with Time, Sotomayor characterized those odds as "extraordinary -- even worse than hitting the lottery. But the message of the book is really about dreaming and working towards dreams by taking it step by step. It's the journey that's the aim."