I've had very little luck with third-party recruiters myself, personally. My take is that because the job is theoretically easier to get, there is much more competition, and the recruiters are more ruthless in removing applications that don't meet the exact specifications from their client.
Also it pains me a little for you to say that reading one book is a big sign of having lots of free time. Maybe you're not a huge reader but I hope you normally do stuff you enjoy, reading or not, whether you're employed or not, if you don't mind my saying so.
I'm just not a huge reader. It's far down my usual list of free time activities.
Basically, the fact that I had enough free time to finish a book and do all the things I like to do higher on my list was one of the joys of unemployment.
Also it pains me a little for you to say that reading one book is a big sign of having lots of free time. Maybe you're not a huge reader but I hope you normally do stuff you enjoy, reading or not, whether you're employed or not, if you don't mind my saying so.