I've found that once i've read a book the movie is ruined to me. I tend to focus on things that have been changed or left out instead of the movie. It also ruins the pictures i form in my head when i see the movie sets. I'm glad i saw the lord of the rings movies before i read each book and the Harry Potter movies sucked because i read the books and the movies ruined every notion i had in my head.

I went and saw timeline the other day. The book was excellent, and the movie wasn't too bad either. Do you guys tend to like the book or the movie better? does it make a difference which you experience first? I prefer to read the book after i see the movie, but i have a lot of non reader friends that say the books lose interest once you've watched the flick. what do you think?

ahh...the other endless debate.
Well, I'm going to stick with my position from the Lord of the Rings topic and say that the book/movie order depends on the work in question. I am very glad that I read The Lord of the Rings before I saw the movie, as every little detail they barely mention or leave out that may affect the story was known to me. I never got lost during the movie, which happened to some of my non-Tolkien enlightened buddies. However, I'm also happy that I read Jurassic Park and The Shining after viewing the films, as the books were a bit more enjoyable than the movie versions. As both movies are fun to watch, I believe my experience would have been dampened by the ideas of "well, i wouldn't have done it that way" and "they switched the order of that action sequence", and the like running through my head every 5 minutes.

I firmly believe that the books are always better. You just can't translate all the detail and voice that's in a book into a movie. It just doesn't work. They can be okay as movies, but when compared to the books, it's just never the same.