A Book Lover in Texas is now available as a free e-book at the UNT Digital Library and The Portal to Texas History.
A personal and professional memoir of a major literary catalyst in the state—on radio and the lecture platform, as author, agent, teacher and book collector. Her review broadcasts hold the national record for fifty years on the air.
Oppenheimer pulls no punches in her evaluation of books, writers, and the society and organizations related to them, including anecdotes about such literary and artistic stars as Irving Stone, Willie Morris, Peter Hurd, Agatha Christie, Herman Wouk, Leon Uris, James Michener, Jacqueline Susann, and Alistair Cooke. She also tells of her own life and that of a grander and more elegant generation of Dallasites.
"This elegant book . . . is a delight for book lovers everywhere."—The Bookwoman
"Oppenheimer describes, in this salty memoir, her long career as a radio book reviewer, literary agent, lecturer and author . . . Opinionated and irreverent . . . this memoir is literate, occasionally gossipy fun."—Publisher's Weekly
" . . . the source of some lively opinions, both personal and literary. She pulls few punches. Her judgments on writers . . . are provocative and . . . usually on target . . . In an age when culture grows ever more coarse and commercialized, she is a refreshing anomaly."—Dallas Morning News
"Her wide influence on the book world of Texas is well-told in this spritely memoir."—Books of the Southwest