I adore the books, but also think the movies are great. As charliepanayi said, the extended cuts are probably the best adaptations that could have been hoped for.

Movies based on books will never ever be the same as the books. Ever. Loads of detail gets lost with every adaptation happening out there.
- some adaptations are worse than the original text, some are better. To me, the feat of creating and developing the world of Lord of the Rings for the screen as was done, is alone enough to be amazed at in my opinion. Books and movies are simply just totally different media, and what works in one doesn't necessarily work in the other. At all. The movies are just movies and an adaptation, and the books will always be the books. It's when people mix the two of them instead of looking at the independently that they become disappointed.