I don't know about anyone else, but if I watch a movie before I read the book, I can't read the book for the life of me -- which is a shame because the book is always better than the movie! So if I can, I will always read the book before I watch the movie.

Now, this is a list of movies that you have to read the book first, and why you should!

1. Vampire Academy

This is a great book, and is literally one of my favorite books of all time. The movie rendition actually followed the events of the book very well, the only thing is that they of course had to cut some things out to be able to have the length of the movie not be obnoxious. And you just picture it differently in your head when you're reading it than when you're seeing it. But you have to read the book first! I think you don't get the same depth of the relationships from the movie that you do from the book, and that is a MAJOR part of the book!

2. The Shack

I'm not even sure what to say about the movie besides that it was great. You do miss a lot of things that were really important in the book, such as the hike with Jesus, but it was still done so wonderfully. I enjoyed it! But reading the book is so so important in this. I feel it's important because of how much they aren't able to put in the movie, but also because of the feelings that you're able to get from reading.

3. The Fault in Our Stars

Cries! The book is amazing. I love the book, it just has so much more in it, I feel, that the movie wasn't able to have. Plus, this book is one of those that it's great to have your own image of the characters and just depth of feeling for it before you watch the movie. It's so hard to describe but it's so important!

4. Fifty Shades of Grey Series

This is one of the most important thing for this series. You have to be able to read the books and get the whole background of everything before you try to watch the movies. The movie just doesn't have the ability to capture the essence of the relationship between Christian and Anastasia. You seriously have to read the books to get everything, because all the really important things are left out of the movies! (SIDE NOTE: Their relationship is not an abusive one! You would know and understand that IF YOU READ THE BOOKS. Just saying.)

5. Percy Jackson Series

These movies were great, at least the ones they've done so far. I pictured Percy a little bit different, but that's alright. Reading the books are important though because I feel like the movies just don't give enough of the back story and it's just not what I entirely pictured from the book. I feel like the movies just don't give you all the details and that means you're missing out on some of the humor and adventure. And Percy is all about adventure!

6. Harry Potter Series

Okay, so this is one of the series that I'm not ever going to be able to read. I watched the movies before I could read the books. However, I have heard a lot about the books from my sister and some of my friends to know that reading the books should be on your to do list before you watch the movies. A lot is left out, because otherwise the movies would be forever long. I'm sure some of us wouldn't mind a five hour movie, but I don't think the movie theatres would show it.

7. Twilight Series

I'm not even sure where to start with this. Possibly the biggest reason for me is that if you read it, you get a better picture of the characters than from the movies. The movies are, of course, also missing pieces of the book that help build the background of the characters and overall story plot. I don't know, but the books were just so much better than the movies. So much better.

8. City of Bones (Immortal Instruments Series)

SO MANY THINGS WENT WRONG WITH THIS MOVIE!!! Like what in the world were they trying to do?! Cram everything in?! It's a jumbled mess!! The movie was seriously so disappointing to watch after reading the books!! It is just the first book, but I feel like they were also adding in things from the second book and just trying to fit way too much into the movie! It was a mess. You definitely have to read the books to get the actual characters and plot line as well as the depth of the story. One of my favorite books ever!! Movie is the worst though.

It's just important, I think, to read the book before the movies. Movies just don't have the ability to include everything from the book into the movie with it still making sense and not being twenty hours long. I also know that people have probably watched some of these movies already and hate even the idea of reading the book because of the bad impressions they got from the movie. Trust me, though, reading the books - so worth it.