An unscientific statistical analysis of movies that are better than the books

You know how it goes - you read a book, love a book, then get all excited when the movie gets made. Deep down, though, you know that you'll probably leave the theatre sighing and telling whoever you went with that the book was better. Just to totally make up some statistics pulled from no-where polite with no scientific backing, I think that 60% of the time I still prefer the book but am able to recognise that they are different mediums and enjoy the movie in its own right. Recent examples include Everything is Illuminated, Slumdog Millionaire/Q&A, Charlotte Gray, and the Other Boleyn Girl. The Harry Potter books also fit in this category for me.

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30% of the time I leave the movie angry that a book I've enjoyed has been bastardised in some way. An excellent example of this is My Sister's Keeper, which could be the subject of a very long and boring rant. The Time Traveller's Wife also springs to mind. 5% of the time, the books and movies seem exactly the same, and neither is better. Atonement barely differed between the book and the movie, and I found The Reader the same. In both cases I read the book after seeing the movie hoping for something extra, and both times I felt let down.

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5% of the time, though, I actually prefer the movie. Examples include:

- The Shipping News (book ... so ... boring)

- The English Patient (the movie was beautiful, but I found the book pretentious)

- Apt Pupil (I found the movie much more believable)

- Brokeback Mountain (I was very disappointed in this book. But given my reaction to the Shipping News as well, maybe I'm just not a fan of Annie Proulx)

- Zodiac

- Once Were Warriors (Alan Duff may have good ideas, but I don't think he's a good writer at all)

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Do you have any? What books/movies fit in the above categories for me? Can you come up with a better totally bollocks formula? There are of course other times when I refuse to see a movie on account of loathing the book (three words: eat, pray and love), or in cases like Revolutionary Road where the book is so haunting I don't have the emotional energy to put myself through the movie. But, that can be another unscientific statistical analysis for another time ...