 In July 2010 , Sotomayor signed a contract with Alfred A. Knopf to publish a memoir about the early part of her life . She received an advance of nearly $ 1 @.@ 2 million for the work , which was published in January 2013 and titled My Beloved World ( Mi mundo <unk> in the simultaneously published Spanish edition ) . It focuses on her life up to 1992 , with recollections of growing up in housing projects in New York and descriptions of the challenges she faced . It received good reviews , with Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times describing it as " a compelling and powerfully written memoir about identity and coming of age . ... It 's an eloquent and affecting testament to the triumph of brains and hard work over circumstance , of a childhood dream realized through extraordinary will and dedication . " She staged a book tour to promote the work , and it debuted atop the New York Times Best Seller List . 
