Feature Week 12: ABC Radio
Nadine Maloney
Across Australia, ABC Radio is providing wonderful exposure and publicity for the National Year of Reading. In the twelfth week of our celebrations, we feature three ABC Radio hosts, Nadine Maloney from Alice Springs, Louise Maher from Canberra and Lisa Pellegrino from Darwin.
Ambassador
Broadcast from Alice Springs Library
Dan Kelly Interview Alice Springs Library
Heritage Week Celebrations
Library Lovers Day Alice Springs Library
Reading List
Uluru With Colleague Emma Sleath
About Nadine
Nadine is nosy by nature and loves meeting new people and hearing their stories. She grew up in small coastal towns in Australia and New Zealand. Before heading to university she backpacked across Europe. She ran out of money in England and managed to wrangle herself into a job at a political consultancy firm where her interest in media began. A four year stint at a rock music station followed before Nadine returned to Australia and her media degree at Southern Cross University in Lismore.
Nadine joined the ABC during her final year of studies and has enjoyed various stints working for the program, online and rural teams in Lismore, Bega and Alice Springs. Nadine currently hosts the 783 ABC Alice Springs morning radio program that includes a mix of news, politics, music and local personalities.
Nadine's thoughts on reading and the National Year of Reading
Throughout 2012 on the ABC Alice Springs morning program I'm dedicating Tuesdays to National Year of Reading yarns. Each week I talk to someone different – an author, illustrator, critic....anyone at all related to the world of books. I am thrilled to be an ambassador for the campaign because I really can't imagine a world without books and I want to try and encourage as many people as possible to read.
Nadine's reading habits
- When do you read? I’m so lucky to be able to read every single day. I read newspapers, websites and magazine articles each day for work – I’m always looking for ideas for things to talk about on the radio. I read most evenings before bed during the week and on the weekend whole afternoons are often spent snuggled in a quiet spot with a book or a whole stack of magazines and papers.
Do you have a favourite genre?
I’d like to think my taste is varied but I always seem to come back to yarns set in the Australian outback, historical novels, classic love stories and crime. I just adore anything with an old Australian bush setting and I’m slightly obsessed with fictional detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Miss Phryne Fisher. I like trying to solve the murder, but if a storyline is too complex I just get bored. I think Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are brilliant because they’re extremely clever, but never too smug.
Kerry Greenwood’s ‘Phryne Fisher’ series has made the transition from book format to the television screen. Nadine interviewed Kerry, and has included an entry about the interview on her ABC radio blog. Take a look at the blog, and listen to the interview.
Which book is by your bedside right now?
‘Wolf Hall’ by Hilary Mantel. It had such wonderful reviews and was recommended to me by someone who tweeted using #NYR12 when I put the call out on Twitter for new reads. I’m only three chapters in and hope to finish it this weekend. -
What was the last book you borrowed from your public library?
The Alice Springs Public Library is one of my favourite places to spend time. With about 1500 visitors a day, it really is a community hub. Being air conditioned probably helps! I go there every Saturday and sometimes during the week as well.
I’ve just borrowed ‘The marriage plot’ by Jeffrey Eugenides and I also put Ahn Do’s autobiography, ‘The happiest refugee’ on hold and just got a message to say it’s available for me to pick up. Don’t know when I’ll start that one though. Soon, I hope!
- Print books, ereader or both? Print. Only print. Never an ereader.
- Do your ever cheat and read the end of the book first? Are you bloody kidding me? No way, Jose! No way. I can’t ever imagine doing that, it would spoil the joy of discovering something new every time you turned the page.
- At what point do you give up on a book? Until recently I could never give up on a book. If it was boring me I would always force myself to finish. During my summer holiday last year, I read one book that I absolutely hated it. When I finally finished the sodding thing I threw it on the floor in disgust. Since then I've decided if it's not doing it for me it is actually OK to give up. A friend just gave me another book that I hated almost instantly. Lasted less than two chapters, the characters were just so insincere and annoying. I felt great joy giving that book up!
What's the first book you can remember reading or having read to you?
I have very strong memories of my father reading Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the rings’ to me and my brother. It was a picture book version especially for kids and I remember dad putting on different voices for all of the characters. Funnily enough, I’ve never read it as an adult although it is on the list! 
Was your family a reading family?
Yes, very much so. I have books handed down to me that my mum and dad both read. We share books and talk all the time about what we’ve read or are currently reading. My dad passed on to me a love of reference books – from maps to books on birds or plants. And my mum passed on to me a love of historical novels and Maeve Binchy! My brother and I would come back from the library with giant piles of books. We were always borrowing the maximum amount. - Do you have a favourite book from your childhood? I read ‘Gully kids’ by Margaret Patterson over and over again when I was around 11 or 12. It’s set in the bush during the war and takes you back to a time when kids were riding horses to school and getting up to no good. It’s also very funny. I like to laugh out loud when reading and I guess that started early. I haven't seen a copy of it for years, I'd love to read it again as an adult just to see if it is as funny as I remember.
Nadine's favourite reads
‘The outsiders’ by S.E. Hinton
We had to read this book when I was in Grade 9. Fortunately, I'd read it the year before (geek!) and was already so enamoured with the characters. Ponyboy! Cherry Valance! Sodapop! Johnnycake! Of course the story is an interesting one and it probably is very good for teenagers to read and dissect it. But for me it was the fact that a teenage girl had actually written the book. To me that was the most amazing thing. A fifteen year old girl sat down in 1965 and wrote a book. And that book was so engaging and so successful that all these years later there I was studying it. Also, from The Outsiders my friend Jasmine and I developed a deep love and respect for Robert Frost, whose poetry is quoted throughout. A double whammy.-
‘Beyond a boundary’ by C.L.R. James
I am a complete cricket tragic. Each summer I get sucked in to buying the latest cricket books doing the rounds. Most are inspiring and enjoyable. They give me an insight into some of my favourite cricketers, which is great. When I read C.L.R. James for the first time I began to realise what cricket means to me. It is much more than just a game, it is passion and it is culture. But there is also so much about cricket that I don't like and I spent most of my second year at university using this book to show how racism is still so inherent in the game.
Last year during a trip to London I actually stumbled upon an old rundown library in Dalston named after C.L.R. James. I was so excited I almost cried. Even more amazing was the brand spanking new library they were building just around the corner to replace it! What a great honour for a wonderful bloke who is often referred to as the greatest cricket writer of all.
Take a look at the website for this new library located in Hackney: -
‘Pride and prejudice’ by Jane Austen
I can't tell you how many times I have read this or even why I always go back to it. I like to think I take away something new each time, but really I think I probably just like to check in with some of my most beloved characters in literature. This story is beautifully told, it really is flawless. There is drama, suspense, humour and of course romance. It has everything a girl could ever want in a novel and I will always go back and read it whenever I'm feeling blue.
Want to know more?
- Tune into Alice Springs ABC Radio 783, especially on Tuesday mornings between 8.30 – 11am to hear Nadine’s National Year of Reading yarns.
- To find out more about Nadine and her work, visit the ABC website:
- You can also connect with Nadine via twitter:
- Find out about our other featured ambassadors for week 12:
- If you want to see the other National Year of Reading ambassadors, go to our ambassadors page.
- Other featured ambassadors can be found on the ambassador feature week listing.
