Languagehat has a post titled "A Year in Reading, 2012".
My first thought was, "Oh you poor thing, the year I lived in Reading was one of the most boring of my life."

Then I realised that he probably wasn't talking about the town in Berkshire.

I actually worked in Wokingham and lived in Reading and if there is a more boring place on Earth than Wokingham I have yet to visit it (and believe me I've visited a lot of places.)
That makes it all the more surprising that there is such a gushing and ebullient Wikipedia entry for it. I can only assume it was written in the spirit of Ford Prefect's original guide to Earth which was edited by the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy down to "mostly harmless".
A description that applies equally well to Wokingham.

Reading PA ain't too hot neither.

I understand that many manufacturers test-market their products in Reading as its customer mix is the same as the customer mix for the UK as a whole. There are pockets of great wealth and pockets of great poverty - and everthing between - in one small area.

quote:

There are pockets of great wealth and pockets of great poverty - and everthing between - in one small area.

That's either Las Vegas or Atlantic City.

I'm sure there must be other places of that ilk. It's just that Reading seems to fit the bill here.

It's interesting, the English Reading is in Berkshire and the Pennsylvania Reading is in Berks County.

Referring to areas of a city in the novel, "Waterside is where people are poor. That makes them beggars, thieves, and whores. Hillside is where people are rich. That makes them solicitors, politicians, and courtesans."
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss.