My relationship with book groups is similar to my feelings about New Year’s Eve parties. I want to be invited, but I don’t really want to go.

You would think that membership in a book group would be de rigueur for anyone who professes to be a book junkie. But for me, they tend to take all the great things about reading and render them as bland as a fat-free brownie.

I have been in book groups before, but I always find myself wandering off after a couple of meetings. Reading is a very personal experience, and something about being told what to read brings out the brat in me. Even if it is a book I have wanted to read, the minute the book group requires that I read it - and read it by a certain date - I get cantankerous.

My other beef with book groups is that it renders unlikable those people whom I would otherwise like. You know these people too, I bet. The Jane Austen nut. The over-analyzer (“Snoopy is an allegory for man’s inability to communicate his needs”). The Bad-Suggester (“Let’s read something by Jane Austen”). The Person-Who-Never-Reads-The-Book (me).

It is said that one should never criticize something without offering a constructive solution, so here goes.

Instead of a traditional book group, start a book-swap group. Get together with your best reading pals and have everyone bring a book they love (or hate, or just finished reading). If you are not a person who buys books, then just bring a suggestion. After an appropriate amount of wine has been consumed and a healthy portion of gossip has been exchanged (these are the 2 true fuels of any good book group), let each person in the group share their book. The point is that the best thing you can do for any friend is lead them to a terrific read. Or steer them clear of a horrible one.

If even this idea seems too fraught with peril, then try this - call yourself a book group in name only. No reading required. I have a group of friends who do this and and it’s a brilliant concept.

Leah Rex has worked in some aspect of the book business for more than half her life. When given the choice between food or books, she will always choose books.