Actually, there's very little difference between these two sentences.
This site explains the past perfect tense you used in the first sentence.
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/pperf.htm
1. I have seen the book you were reading.
2. I saw the book you were reading.
(What is thedifference between them?)
5 answers
Ms.Sue, did you not mean the present perfect tense?
Wouldn't the past perfect tense be:
"I had seen the book you were reading"?
Wouldn't the past perfect tense be:
"I had seen the book you were reading"?
EG, correct.
Ooops! Sorry. Thanks for catching my oo, E.G. and Bob.
You're welcome Ms. Sue - errare humanum est.