I enjoy both the books and the movies, however I wish I was able to view them as separate entities. I started with just the movies. The first two were cute, but didn't affect me in any way. The third movie I found to be so far beyond that I still place it as one of my favorite films. It was after that point that the films really fell apart to me. Why? Because it was at that point that I started reading the books. I didn't want to, but the future-Mrs. O'Five was such a fan of the books that I knew I had to read them to catch up with her.

This was a mistake.

Every movie after that point, because I knew exactly what was going to happen when, I was tapping my foot waiting for my favorite part of the book to start. And that was the entirety of my enjoyment of them. I didn't find myself bitching about "it wasn't like that in the book", but only because I didn't want to be That Guy. The film twists were lost on me because I knew they were coming now. I wish I had experienced the films as films.

Anyway, it sounds like d_e is coming at it from the right angle, so good on you! The books are like the Extended Edition, they help you understand more about what happened and add some fun side quests.