Which is better, the book or the movie?

I recently watched two movies that were adapted from books. Books I'd happen to read as well.

A couple of weeks ago I saw "Running with Scissors" a film adapted from Augusten Burrough's memoir, and "Shop Girl" screenplay by Steven Martin adapted from his novella.

For both these movies, the operative word that describes their relationship with the books they were based on is "adapted". These movies generally follow the plotline on the back cover of the books they were based on, but that's about it. After that, the similarities end.



At least Shop Girl (the movie) tried to carry-over the stillness of Martin's novella. The plot unfolded slowly and even the individual scenes were always a couple of seconds longer than they ought to be. Running With Scissors (the movie) didn't even bother to capture the book's mood. It just told the story of a boy with an insane mother who was brought up in the household of his mother's equally unstable psychiatrist. Sure that's what the book is about, but that's like saying "War and Peace" is a book about war and peace.