I agree with Darlene, I loved Practical Magic as a movie, didn't love the book.  I also loved 10th Kingdom, the mini series, and couldn't understand why the book, which was written after the mini-series aired, needed to be different in parts.

I really liked both the movie and the book version of Little Children.  I thought that they built on each other.  I also saw The Little Chinese Seamstress recently after reading the book.  I liked the book better, but it was a very pretty movie.

With books you can hear what the characters are thinking.  Can't do that to well in a movie unless they have a voice over thing happening.  So you get more details and information. 

Hmmmm....I bet you are way beyond this original subject by now. 

I think that the books are better for two reasons:

(1) you can imagine the characters and so forth in your own head.  Your characters are *always* well cast, lol.

(2) a good book lasts so much longer than a good movie, so if you like the book, you get to have the enjoyable experience for much longer.

They are always better  because you can "soak them in". A movie is instant gratification. A book is a long slow enjoyment.

I'd like to see This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti made into movies.

Bridges of Madison County - The book was much better than the movie IMHO. Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep were simply NOT the characters (Robert and Francesca) that I had pictured in my mind.

Shelley Duvall played Wendy in The Shining. At first she is the dim little wifey, enabling the failure of a hubby and hoping that son Danny's broken arm at the boozer's hand was just a one-time thing. She remains passive in the hotel while Jack slowly but steadily goes off his dot. But at the climax with her child Danny's life at stake, she gets past her fear and sadness, steps up to the plate and does what has to be done. She saves Danny and herself. What a great mom.

Just sayin'

I nearly always like books better than the movie version.  I agree that our own imagination is better than someone else's most of the time.  A Grisham book I just couldn't get into was "The Rainmaker" it was too slow in the beginning, but I enjoyed the movie more.  One of Grisham's books I think the movie was just as good is "A Time To Kill"  I thought it was wonderfully cast and acted.  I read "The Horse Whisperer" and loved it, but was disappointed in the changes made in the movie. 

A Time To KIll........I loved the book but just liked the movie..........a pivotal moment in the story is something a juror says and in the movie that moment was given to the star, Matthew McConaughey. I really did not like that, along with other changes about the female attorney played by Sandra Bullock.

Verdict: Book much better

The Shining........hated the movie and the casting of Shelley Duvall is one of the reasons..........she reminded me of Olive Oyl (didn't she play her in the Popeye movie?) on drugs. YECHHHHHHH! Paired with Jack Nicholson=disasterous casting. The book plot was so altered. I am a great Stephen King fan and this movie IMHO, was a real stinker!

Verdict: Book was much, much better.

Fried Green Tomatoes!!  Soo much better as a movie than the book!!