“Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.” – Stephen King
When a book is adapted into a movie, it is like playing the wrong chord in an instrument. It ruins the story that the writer builds with vigor. Many movie adaptations are entirely different from the original that one feels awful. So it is better to read the book first and then watch the movie.
Books make us imagine the whole tale in an awesome manner but movies keep our mind focused on the settings and characters they provide. Well, take Harry Potter, for example, one can never imagine a Harry other than Daniel Radcliffe. Or take Hunger Games, the Katniss Everdeen, the female rebel heroine, who comes to mind is Jennifer Lawrence. But in a book, we can imagine our characters and keep them in our mind for a long time. The feel of books is very diverse from watching a movie. That doesn’t mean that movies are not good. They are good in their way.
A saga read is far more interesting than watching it. Reading gets the mind filled with pictures and one tends to mull over it for a long time. While movies are over in two to three hours. A book can be cherished for years, but movies tend to fade away over time when novel stuff burgeons. While reading one can relish each word and the dialogues used by the characters. But in a movie, much is lost.
To integrate the book into a two-hour movie is hard. Not everything can be added; only the important scenes will be chosen and thus, the wholesomeness is lost. If we see the movie Divergent, the scenes in the movie come in different places unlike the book, and many things in the book have not been added to it. The uniqueness of a thing can be felt at its first glance. Paulo Coelho says, “The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader. That's why we go to movies and say, "Oh, the book is better.” Thus, reading should be first before watching the movie.