I liked the books. Firstly, live-action movies often make me really uncomfortable which was a good chuck of the reason I didn't go see Fantastic Beasts for well over a year after it was released. Turned out I liked that, I think the wide angle shots help alleviate the feeling the characters are in my personal space bubble.
But as for why I liked the books, JKR can really write a scene. I loved all the details of the peripheral characters just living their lives completely oblivious to the fact Harry was in ear shot. My favorite scene in the entire series was in book 4, where a MoM official was arguing with Old Archy at the Quiddich World Cup, trying go get him to change out of a lady's dressing gown into suspenders and the old wizard was not having it.