Yep, its different for everyone. I think a lot of the reason people have trouble reading in dreams is because they've been told you'll have trouble. Now that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it may result in more lucids for them, but I get frustrated when I'm unable to read in dreams! Now, most of the time, I can read alright. I'll understand the main point, even if it may be poorly written at any rate (I can never recall exact dialogue or text from dreams, just "what" they said if you know what I mean).

But anyway, suggestions to get lucid. You probably know about reality checks, and if not just hunt around for more info, but basically it is something you do to check if you are dreaming. My personal favorite is the nose reality check; just plug your nose and try to breath through it. I've had only a couple instances where I couldn't breath through my plugged nose in dreams. Do a reality check when you notice something weird, or perhaps even if you just 'feel' a little weird. You know, like everything looks a little bit too clear, or something happened just a little too perfectly. My dreams are often insane so I just get lucid off of the normal "oh I can fly" types of things though. Really though, just hunt around Dream Views in the tutorials and the Attaining Lucidity forum and you'll get a ton of detail.

Good luck.