Ok, I'm sure this question has been asked and answered a million times, but I'm new to this site and I also don't have a lot of time to go searching around for the answer myself, so maybe one or some of you can help me.

I want to know how the book compares to the movies. I don't mean was it "good" or "bad", I mean, how much are they alike/different?

The reason why I'm asking is because I'd like to read the book if it would help me gain more understanding for the movies. There's a lot more to the movies that I'd like to know about, and if reading the book would help me, then I want to read it. But if it's almost like a completely different story, then I'm not so sure how I feel about that. Ha.

Also- if the book IS a lot like the movie(s), does it include stuff from all THREE parts or just the first?