I have one to add. I LOVED the book Peyton Place. Enough said. I just rented the movie (the old one) and hated it. It had very little to do with the book. I understand about the censors at that time, but come on...

Norman Page never returns a true decorated soldier, his mother paid for those ribbons after he loses his mind.
Rodney Harrington died in a car accident, not at war, nor did he marry Betty.
Selena Cross's "abortion" was totally rewritten (I expected that).

I think this one needs to be remade closer to the original version.

Bridges of Madison County - pretty dire film anyway but to put Meryl Streep in the lead role - she's a talented actress but even she couldn't pull that one off!!

Re One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - it's got to be the only time I've enjoyed the film more than the book.

I generally enjoy the book much more that the movie. I loved the book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and I really didn't like the movie. "American Psycho" is much better as a book, although I found myself giggling a lot during the movie.

I've also noticed that Stephen King books lately have been turned into dismal movies. It's almost like the people who write the screenplay totally rewrite the story.

Of course, I've always been more of a reader.

Indie

I remember reading William Goldmans Marathon Man, There is a pivotal scene in the book where the whole plot comes together with the realisation that two central characters are in fact the same person, it was impossible to do the same in the movie (altho it was a great movie) but i was disappointed that that element of total suprise was missing.

I generally watch a lot of movies and then read the book, not the other way round as Iknow the book is gonna be so much better.

I totally agree with LadyCaitriona about 'Watchers'. Dean R Koontz is one of my all-time favorite writers and I actually saw the film first before reading the book. On it's own it is a good film for it's time (I was a big Corey Haim fan) but then I read the book...What a let-down !! They tried to copy the book more when they released the film 'Watchers II', but again it fell short. At least that time they actually had a ex-green beret.

Another film that was a let down was 'The Beach'. Again, the film came first for me and I liked it. Reading the book brought some scenes more to life but it also showed how much more was missing from the film. I couldn't put the book down as it takes you on a rollercoaster ride.

Here was something funny, I read the book first before I went to see 'Star Trek: Generations' and there was so much missing from the film that was in the book, worst was that some of the jokes were lefted in the film without the information to make any sense of them. An example of this was when 'Geordie La Forge' was captured by the Klingon sisters. He was tortured and injected with nano technology into his eyes. You never saw this in the film, but when he was released he made a one liner joke about it. Now unless you read what had happened to him in the book....you would have no idea what he is on about.

In general....A Book opens up your imagination and paints imgaes for you instead of a film thrusting it upon your senses. Most films you do not need to think what is happening whereas a book, you need to remember what you have read.

I think I'm influenced by the order more than anything. If I see a movie first, I usually prefer it. If I read the book first, I usually prefer it. Because of that, I usually try to read the book first, because I'd rather prefer the original. A few exceptions:
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - I saw the movie first and really liked it. It had such ambiance and really creeped me out. The book followed but was great also. It would be a tough call for me to place one before the other.
Jurassic Park - saw the movie first, liked it. Read the book, loved it. Don't care for the movie anymore.
I also refuse to see 'Sphere' because the book was so good and the though of Dustin Hoffman playing the lead seems comical. Also, I just think that the best elements of the book can't be replicated or imitated on film.

RE: Dean Koontz translations, I thought they did a good job of Phantoms, altho it was years between reading the book and seeing the movie.

'Circle of Friends' is a book that I really enjoyed reading but the movie was terrible, I didn't enjoy it at all. The whole storyline was changed and the characters totally different on the screen. Yuk!! Also very disappointing on the screen was the 'Horse Whisperer' (even with Robert Redford and Kristin Scott-Thomas) and the television series recently shown 'The Beach'.