I don’t know that there is any one particular book I could or would pick, but I can narrow it down to a couple series.
The Ian Fleming James Bond books
I saw the James Bond movies way before I read any of the books. Over the years, I have picked up a variety of Bond novels, and while they are all good, I lean back toward the originals. In several cases, the books are quite different from the films. To the point that some of the films just borrow the title and some character names and nothing else. Moonraker is a prime example of this. Fleming’s book shares very few similarities with the film, as the studio was looking to cash in on the Star Wars craze of the late 70s. The books are a product of their time, but if one keeps that in mind, the books are, in my opinion, quite good.
Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian books
Much like James Bond, my first exposure to Conan was not the books, but the comic books from Marvel and the Schwarzenegger movie. After those, I went back and picked up the novels. The Marvel comics tend to follow the novels fairly closely, so the material was not entirely new to me. There are some more details in some cases, so ti was cool to go back and read Howard’s vision of the character. Again, product of their time, but aside from that, a fun read.
I could make a case for saying the Star Wars books, but there’s just so damn many, it’s hard to keep track. 😄
The Beginning At Last 
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