Book to Movie or Movie to Book?

After you watch a movie you've liked, do you find the book and read it?  Or once you read a book do you see the movie?  Someone once asked me what my favorite book-turned-movie was and I must admit I haven't seen that many movies after first reading the book.  If anything, I much prefer to read the book after I've seen the movie.  The only way I got through the Lord of the Rings trilogy was having the characters' faces and voices in my mind, along with the scenery that I thought the movie beautifully captured.  I loved hearing Sean Astin's voice in my mind as I read about faithful Sam and Ian McKellan's rich baritone Gandalf.  And I discovered that the movies stretched the battle scenes way over the paragraph they got in ink.

But, after having said that, I clearly remember reading Charlotte's Web as a child and crying when dear Charlotte died.  So when I saw the animated movie after reading the book I was delighted to hear the voices and the songs and see on screen what the book had first captured in my imagination.  And I still shed tears along with poor Wilbur when Charlotte didn't come back to the barn (and just for the record, I personally think Debbie Reynolds had a much better voice for Charlotte than Julia Roberts in the later version, and hurray for Paul Linde as Templeton).

And I've just finished reading the ever popular The Hunger Games and there is great anticipation for the movie that comes out in a couple of days.  The previews I've seen look promising and so far seem to match the book.  I'm happy for who they've picked for the female lead, though because of the book, I had someone different in mind for the starring male.  And because I've read the book, I hope it doesn't spoil the already known ending or some of the bits in the middle that us readers have been privvy to.

I have come to accept that movies will have scenes in them that weren't in the book, or dialogue is changed, or characters added or omitted.  Directors need to change things from paper to make sense visually for an audience and they only have so much time to tell a story.  What I like about reading is that it fills in what a movie can't explain.  In The Help for example, there was more explanation on why poor Celia Foote was seen as a social outcast and more depth to Constantine's story.  Once I read the book, the movie became more meaningful to me because I knew more truth about the characters' plights and what they were thinking about.

So do you prefer watching a film or reading the book?  Do you have a favorite book-turned-movie or vice versa?  Can you think of any books you've read that you think shouldn't have been made into a movie?  Let's talk movies and don't forget the popcorn!