I do agree with Garden Gnome about the deadline being an incentive, and also about the broadening effect of reading things you wouldn't necessarily pick, and I was glad to be in a very dynamic book group for almost 10 years as well as one in a previous community we lived in before that. Now that I've gotten older than either of my parents got to be, I feel as if I'm living on bonus time, and I have taken some different directions with my life. For one thing, we became grandparents late in life, and want to allot as much time as we have with our young grandsons. Also, there is quite a bucket list of both books and quilts as well as other projects, and I don't want to devote the time and effort at this point in my life to getting too much involved with other distractions. Thirdly, when we moved in 2014 we settled closer to my fairly large extended family, and frankly they provide just about as much social life as I need and want. However, for anyone at a different stage of life I'd heartily recommend being in both reading and quilting groups. There may be trade-offs, but they do enrich your life and give you a chance to make new friends who share your interests. I may still eventually join both a guild and a book club around here.