Have I forgotten how to read?

I'm finally making some headway on A Hopeless Romantic, but the first few chapters were tough. I don't know if the author introduced the characters in an odd way or if I've forgotten how to read a novel. While reading it this morning, I got confused and kept flipping back and forth between the pages, wondering if I missed the description of who this person or that person was. Character A would just start talking to Character B and I'm thinking, "Do I know who B is? He's mentioned by first name only, so he must have been introduced and I missed it." Then several paragraphs later, the description of Character B would start. The reading is going much more quickly now that I have established all the characters in my mind.

Perhaps my problem is that most of the novels I've read over the past several years have been volumes from the Harry Potter and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I knew those characters already, so it was easier to jump right in. The other novels I've tried to read have been abandoned quickly because I couldn't stick with them long enough to care about what was going to happen to the characters. Part of it may be that I am choosing the wrong books for me, but I can't blame it all on the books. I have to find a balance between plowing through a boring book to the bitter end and abandoning a book within the first five pages.