The Opposition…

My Beloved World

Sonia Sotomayor

Discussion: 2013-Jan-Feb-Mar

Why we're reading this: The Daily Show: January 21, 2013
The Colbert Report: February 4, 2013
[close] The Daily Show: January 21, 2013
The Colbert Report: February 4, 2013

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2013-Jan-Feb-Mar

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* March 2013
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 36 views

last updated Mar 31, 2013 11:56AM

* February 2013
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 39 views

last updated Mar 01, 2013 06:08PM

What Members Thought

Nov 09, 2012 Linda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, ohio-e-book-project

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook (read by Rita Moreno). Sonia Sotomayor appears to be my type of person - one who is looking out for the best for all involved. She writes of her childhood with an alcoholic father who died when she was young leaving her mother to support Sotomayor and her brother. Her life has been one that presented her with what many would have consider obstacles and she approached as challenges. I'd read this one again. ...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

An amazing woman! It makes me so happy to know she's on the Supreme Court. A well-written memoir with lots of heart. ...more

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Jun 12, 2017 Letitia rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club-suggestions, 2017-to-read

Not the most riveting of biographies, but Sotomayor as a person is certainly an interesting figure in American politics and the judiciary.

Sotomayor's story is revealing on both a personal level and a social one. I really appreciated her insights into being a woman shortly after universities had opened to women, about being a Latina during the height of affirmative action, and being a blended culture kid. I actually think her multicultural experiences as well as the adversity she had to overcome Not the most riveting of biographies, but Sotomayor as a person is certainly an interesting figure in American politics and the judiciary.

Sotomayor's story is revealing on both a personal level and a social one. I really appreciated her insights into being a woman shortly after universities had opened to women, about being a Latina during the height of affirmative action, and being a blended culture kid. I actually think her multicultural experiences as well as the adversity she had to overcome were responsible for pushing her to the heights of achievement that she reached.

I identified most with the section where she talks about the cultural knowledge that her classmates had, that she, growing up in a Puerto Rican family of low socioeconomic status, had never been exposed to. How she struggled to catch up with things that her classmates and professors just took for granted that everyone knew. That's a bit how I felt going to college, as a home schooler. There were cultural touchstones and pieces of knowledge that everyone simply knew. To this day, I am convinced I was less successful than I could have been if I had understood how to write a proposal or an application for a scholarship the way my classmates did. Even in grad school, it was clear I just didn't know these basic things that everyone else knew. I will spend my life trying to catch up not just to things like the pop music of my generation, but how you're expected to write to someone who is offering you funding. I obviously didn't have a serious academic struggle (my academic education was thorough before I entered college), but all the soft skills and non-academic pieces of knowledge weren't there.

I see exactly what Sotomayor is explaining here, and I think it's the best case one can make for affirmative action. Academia, especially Ivy League, is its own culture, and if you are not familiar with navigating it, you will invariably have a faux pas or two. Giving students who don't acquire these soft skills is part of equal opportunity, and ending the huge wealth disparity that exists between different ethnic groups. ...more

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May 19, 2014 Gloria Stone rated it it was amazing

Loved loved loved. Dog eared. Underlined. For very personal reasons, south I related to. Her thoughts and words so greatly appreciated. Can you be a Supreme Court justice groupie? Sign me up.

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Jul 08, 2017 Judy rated it really liked it

The fascinating story of a young woman--with health issues--who rises from poverty in New York City to becoming the first Hispanic Justice on the Supreme Court.

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