It's not so unusual to have some awareness in a non-lucid dream. It just didn't click, you didn't become lucid.

I'm not sure if you are RCing in waking life, but what helps us get lucid is not just the thought about something strange "how interesting, I can read", but the thought that we could be dreaming at that moment and the mantra that follows. Something like "next time I'm dreaming, I realize I'm dreaming".