“The book was like a tutorial on how to use a copier.”

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“Good luck enjoying Forrest Gump the book on its own after seeing the movie. The genius is what Zemeckis did with it.” — @StevenJDuffield

Director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Eric Roth kept the fun idea of this unlikely guy stumbling into major moments in American history, but got rid of all the WTF stuff (and added a whole lot of heart.)

"So this may be a bit controversial but I liked the Hunger Games movies more than the books because escaping from strict First Person Perspective to see other things happening in the district and other POVs I thought really helped the story."

Movie's director: Gary Ross (Francis Lawrence has directed all of the sequels)

“Someone else already said it in the replies but the Jaws book is really bad.” — @Tomozaurus

Points to Benchley for coming up with an all-time-great premise, but let's be real — it was Steven Spielberg who made the movie so damn suspenseful and scary. Not showing the shark much, even if it was largely by necessity because the mechanical shark frequently malfunctioned during filming, was genius. 

Beyond that, Spielberg cut a bunch of stuff in the book that just slowed things down, like the affair between Matt Hooper and Chief Brody's wife and the random subplot about the mayor's connections to organized crime.

"The movie was better than the book. In the book, there were lots things Andie had to look for for Miranda. They took most of them and put them into a montage of Miranda plopping her coat on Andie’s desk and telling her to do something."

“I’m going to say Fight Club. Not really that the book was bad per se…” — @nwsayer

"This might be controversial but I'm going to say it - the Wizard of Oz. The book was more violent than I expected and some parts were pretty random (visiting the Dainty China Country) etc. I think the changes the movie made actually made sense."

"The core story is great, but the book is bogged down with too much extra stuff. Thankfully for the movie, they were forced to cut most of it down for the runtime."

"Die Hard was based on the novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. In the movie, Willis played John McClane but in the book the character was a retired detective named Joe Leland. The script and movie were clearly better than the novel."

The ending is better too. In the novel, Leland’s daughter gets dragged out the window to her death with the villain (WTF?!?!) and Leland himself may be dying by the end. Merry Christmas! 

I found a reader online who summed it up pretty well: "I think the action made for a better movie than book. The writing was ok, kind of a hard-boiled detective fiction sort, but lots of action sequences that were better on film than on the page."

“The book is meh, but the movie is phenomenal.” — @KathrynMK04

I also have to ding Mr. Dick a few points for his story also appearing on the "men writing women" subreddit! His crime? Writing "She fluttered, her melon-shaped breasts — today painted an incandescent orange — bobbing with agitation." No, Philip no! Bad Philip!

"The movie ending to The Firm is much better than the original book. The book has a weird extended slow chase all over everywhere that derails the momentum entirely. The movie ending is just flat better."

"The movie was far superior. It made Nurse Ratched more sympathetic and at the end she clearly has PTSD. Also the title character is a now a cool twist ending in the film version, since it’s no longer told from the Chief's point of view, so the final scene hits as an epic twist instead."

And he even gave the filmmakers props for ditching his depiction of the main character as an Indian everyman who could be from any religion, and instead making him a Muslim whose mom is killed by a Hindu mob. "It's more dramatically focused as a result," Swarup said. "Perhaps more politically correct." 

"Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is better than Homer’s work by far."