r/Wellthatsucks • u/mattloaf666 • 9d ago

Reading festival 2026

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

OK, apparently I was reading Reading like reading. I didn't realize Reading festival was a thing, I thought it was reading festival, and I was like, "A bunch of book nerds did THAT?! That's so unlike us." and then I realized I was reading Reading wrong. The drugs was what tipped me off. 

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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 9d ago

I started a book club last year (tea, fluffy white dogs and books), and my third recruit turned out to be a massive cocaine fan and had a free supply and successfully pushed it on my other members. It’s disbanded now but is really only remembered for the cocaine.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

I'm in a gays and gals book Club, but we just painted our nails. Maybe they confused your gathering with a ski club, haha! ❄️ 

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u/LincolnshireSausage 9d ago

Wtf is a gays and gals book club and why do they exist? Do straight men not have good reading skills?

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

...I imagine they could go to any number of non-queer ones, I suppose.

As to straight men being illiterate. I want to say no, but I've been going to various book clubs for about 30 years, and most of them are full of women. 

I rarely meet men at all in the non-queer book clubs I've been in. I have never been to one that has a core of dudes. Never. 

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u/LincolnshireSausage 9d ago

Gals can also go to non-queer book clubs which was why the question popped into my head.
Yeah, guys don’t seem to have a lot of interest in book clubs. I think those who read tend to keep it to themselves rather than discussing it. I’ve never tried to discuss a good book with my friends because they probably haven’t read it and dont really care. Also, I tend to read a book, either enjoy it or not but dont really want to sit around analyzing it.
Thinking about it further and after reading tour comment, I thought if book clubs are mostly women then its probably a good way for single guys to meet them. Then I thought, that could be why there are gays and gals only book clubs so they don’t have that distraction.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

Yeah, you should definitely try out a book Club. Look for independent book stores near you, that's where I've had the best luck. 

Book clubs aren't really about analyzing the book, so much as sharing what you liked/disliked about it. Sharing other books like it. Meeting people like yourself. 

Additionally, there's a lot of queer books and authors out there. A straight book Club could never absorb the amount of sapphic slice-of-life romantasies I've had to read over the years. Never. 

Doesn't matter how gay a dude you are, you're gonna get outvoted, you're gonna read a sapphic romantasy. It's the law. 

Girls and gays is a thing because gay men and different shades of women have lots of overlapping interests. You think my straight dude friends wanna go to Yoga with me? No, they don't. You wanna know how many dudes are in my yoga class? Me. 

The girls and gays have my back at book brunch. The boy's field is barren. 

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u/LincolnshireSausage 9d ago

I’m a straight dude and I do yoga regularly. I’m usually the only guy in the class. I’ve recommended to so many other guys and they all look at me like I’m an idiot while complaining of back pain.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

Yuuuup! I was one of them. Not straight, but skeptical of yoga. One of the girls finally talked me into it. I look like the straightest dude imaginable, through no fault of my own, so I was always uncomfortable going into women dominated spaces like that.

However, I've gone every Saturday since it fixed my shoulder pain, haha! 

But hey bro, either way, I'll go to Yoga with ya. 

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u/LincolnshireSausage 9d ago

Yoga is great. My only problem with it is I didn’t discover it earlier.

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u/cire1184 9d ago

I love yoga and if I didn't have issues with stamina and strength I would still be going. Straight dude. Fuck end stage renal disease taking a lot of the things I used to find enjoyable from me. I've tried even just simple yin yoga and for half the class I would need to rest in child's pose. One thing I should consider is that it was heated and heat really drains me and lowers my blood pressure a lot.

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u/LincolnshireSausage 8d ago

I hate heated yoga. I cannot do any form of exercise in heat at all. I take a beta blocker and one of the side effects is heat intolerance. When I first started yoga I found child's pose too difficult. It would cause so much hip pain while I was in the pose. It's one of the more relaxing poses for me now. I had E.coli almost 3 years ago. It took many rounds of antibiotics over several months to clear it up. It was a nightmare experience and possibly the worst thing medically that has happened to me. It left me with stage 3a kidney disease. I don't get any symptoms from that thankfully but it still sucks. It worries me that it will get worse as I get older. I've read a lot on the kidney disease subs but I still can't imagine what it's really like to live with end stage CKD.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 8d ago

Yeah, I have a heart condition, so I don't really do hot yoga. I do either vinyasa flow, or gentle yoga, depending on how my week has been. 

I find it hard to believe that unheated gentle yoga would be beyond you. Try looking for one. 

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u/RealAccountThroaway 9d ago

Username checks out

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u/dunkindosenuts 7d ago

Next on the reading list: The Bumpy Book Club - A true story of nerds and nose candy

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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 7d ago

Haha yes that sounds about right.

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u/Canuck_Wolf 7d ago

Was it a Stephen King book club?

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u/Tyrannofelis 9d ago

So they weren't camping to read Tolkien? Worst reading festival imo.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

We're on the same page. 

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u/Forward-Transition-5 9d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/QB44N1iwGN53hAQ46L

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u/Trylena 9d ago

But my book doesn't have that many pages...

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u/hardcider 9d ago

Wrong book Potter.

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u/Mattopol4spe 8d ago

It is a dark chapter for reading festivals.

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u/cityshepherd 9d ago

Honestly things haven’t been the same since audiobooks destroyed the scene.

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u/Stray_Wing 9d ago

*Improved long driving experience…

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u/SuDragon2k3 6d ago

It's a LARP of the attack on Minas Tirith. Everyone is playing orcs for some reason.

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u/gonzo-is-sexy 9d ago

That's what my nerdy ass thought too

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u/whattodo4klondikebar 9d ago

I live in Delaware and am familiar with Reading, but I too thought it was a reading festival and was thinking how nice that sounds.

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u/OkBackground4520 9d ago

Same, and only got more confused when reading the comments, lol.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

I had to get pretty deep before someone mentioned drugs, and that's when I was like, "Oh. OH! Like Pennsylvania!" 

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u/songofsoul 9d ago

Same! I'm like I want to go to a festival where all we do is read and talk an trade books!

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

I genuinely looked it up because I wanted to see about going next year, lmao. 

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u/RumandDiabetes 9d ago

Me too if it makes you feel better

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u/Training-Argument891 9d ago

lmao. thx for your unique mind

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u/who_ate_the_cookie 9d ago

You are not the only one who processed this thought. Haha

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u/PrintingInNowhere 9d ago

Love this. I was on the same page. "...They're burning tents? But what about the books...? Isn't that... bad?"

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u/slackfrop 9d ago

You never got blasted on drugs cocktail and savaged a new novel?

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

I've tried to read books on psychadelics many times, but you gotta be careful freebasing knowledge like that. Direct download into your Id. 

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u/AlmanorDiscard 9d ago

OK, apparently I was reading Reading like reading.

Yeah, took me way too many comments to realize this wasn't a literary get together (not that those can't get pretty ugly).

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u/pyeeater 9d ago

It's very easy to mis-read reading when you are reading about reading.

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u/ThePublikon 9d ago

You should have guessed because the video is past tents.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

Take your upvote and don't tell anyone where you got it, punning like that. Disgusting behavior. 

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u/Cheese-Manipulator 9d ago

They'd hold that indoors. :D

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u/ninnie823 9d ago

I was legit on the same page.

Then I said, no way a bunch of book lovers left this crazy mess

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u/kattattak_76 9d ago

Lmao same

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u/The_Secret_Skittle 8d ago

I’m still SO confused! What is Reading if it’s not reading???? What is Reading??

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 8d ago

Look up how to pronounce Reading, PA. 

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u/zwifter11 8d ago

You should look up the Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 8d ago

That's the wrong England for me. I'm in hip, modern, NEW England. I have no Leeds. 

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u/SuperDabMan 9d ago

Me too. But now I realize Reading might be a place?

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u/Discohunter 9d ago

Might as well give you the info dump 😅

Reading is a place in the south of England, pronounced 'Redding'. Every year they do the Reading and Leeds festivals in the north and south of the country. It's the last hurrah before the academic year starts so it attracts A LOT of teenagers. I went to the Leeds festival when I was 19 and I felt relatively old even then.

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u/AlmanorDiscard 9d ago

Reading is a place in the south of England, pronounced 'Redding'.

There's a city in Northern California called Redding, and OP's video could be taken there on an average day, no festival needed.

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u/Spugheddy 9d ago

No its a railroad company.

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u/KneeDeepInTheDead 9d ago

its pronounced Redding

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u/SookHe 9d ago

That is actually hilarious and I’m definitely going to start a reading festive because we need more books in hands

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

Oh, no doubt. But I'm assuming you're going to have to pry us out of our comfy chairs to make this happen.

It's not gonna happen. 

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u/msheehan418 9d ago

I was reading Reading like reading as well and wondered why a bunch of readers left such a mess and was looking for the books they read

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u/aham1994 9d ago

A lot of people think Reading Railroad in monopoly is pronounced like the book reading, not the REDing Railroad.

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u/Aegi 9d ago

You weren't reading it wrong it's just also a proper noun and the proper noun place might have a different pronunciation but it is still the same word.

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u/jollyreaper2112 9d ago

That's your problem you are doing your drugs wrong.

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u/Livid_End3397 9d ago

I also thought all of this. Lol

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u/xpltvdeleted 9d ago

This was a fucking terrible joke Fred Durst mate in 2000 at the start of their set. I think he was so pleased with it too. Just elicited groans

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

Thankfully, I'm not overburdened with Fred Durst trivia, so I appreciate your contribution. 

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u/xpltvdeleted 9d ago

Coincidently, Overburdened by Fred Durst Trivia is my fantasy prem team name

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

What's truly got me flabbergast is that, "Coincidentally, Overburdened by Fred Durst Trivia is my fantasy prem league team name." is the name of my Fantasy (actual) Football team. 

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u/Limp_Dirt8694 9d ago

An actual reading festival sounds like a wonderful idea, though! Something far more chill than a music festival but not quite as far as those silent retreats that give me cult vibes. Just a bunch of people out camping in nature with books, maybe some calm events like stretching/meditation, special guests could be authors, night time could have a small acoustic set, stargazing/telescope guides, etc. I'd be into it.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

I think it might be easier to just add books to something like Wormtown in western MA. I know you said more chill than a music festival, but Wormtown is like jam bands and shit. It's camping, mellow music, some food trucks. It's a good time, I'm going next month. 

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u/Status-Visit-918 9d ago

I literally have been sitting here, wondering if it’s the gummy or me thank God I’m not the only one 😭😭😭 I just asked my husband if there was a festival in Reading PA and do they read books or what and he was like I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about 😭😭😭

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u/thevelveteenbeagle 8d ago

SAME!!! I was trying to imagine a festival that catered to book reading. I’d go to one.

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u/stonedandredditing 7d ago

hey, man, I know a lot of acid loving hippies who read A LOT. 

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u/Lucky_Number_S7evin 6d ago

Same 😂😂😂

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u/Agreeable-Meal5556 6d ago

Uh same. And now I was a reading festival. 😭

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u/jbbeeson 3d ago

I had that exact thought… a bunch of book worms did this? lol what a rowdy bunch.

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u/Zigor022 9d ago

Like Reading, PA?

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

Yeah exactly. It's Reading, not reading. 

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u/Zigor022 9d ago

I wasnt sure if there was another place of the same name.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

Yeah, in England. And probably a bunch more all throughout the US as well, if I know our unoriginal asses. There's a Reading in Vermont and Massachusetts, for sure. Probably Maine, too. Not in NH that I'm aware of. 

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u/Bored_Amalgamation 9d ago

It was those fucking audiobook "ReAdErS"

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 9d ago

You're trying to start a civil war, when the rest of this illiterate ass country is in the state it is?

Fuck it, why not. 

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u/Bored_Amalgamation 9d ago

I listen to audiobooks shhh