I'm amazed at the fact that I read this in 4 evenings! Well, one of those was Sunday, so I had extra time, but still.... However, I'm even more amazed at how closely the anime version follows the original novel! Except for a very few minor differences, every action and every word follows the novel very closely. That actually helped me read through the book at a faster pace than usual because I was basically reading what I heard many times already. Basically, novel volume 1 corresponds to anime episodes 1 through 6 (Kyon's order). Comparing it to "Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu" makes the difference obvious. It's 1 volume of novel in 6 episodes (Haruhi) vs. 4 volumes of novel in 6 episodes (Iriya). By the way, it lines up perfectly with what I've watched so far (DVD 1-3).
One difference that stood out to me was the fact that Kyon was the one taking the blackmail photos of the Computer Club president. In the anime, he's just standing near the entrance, dumbfounded. I suppose they wanted to portray him with little more dignity.
Also, I didn't think too much about this line when I was watching the anime, but when I saw the line on paper, it felt a lot more important. I don't know if it's actually important, but I get this feeling that it can't be ignored. On page 29, Haruhi says to Kyon, "Have we met before? Long time ago?" That's got to mean something!
There are other little details that helped me understand some things better, too. Did you notice that Koizumi did _not_ pay the taxi driver? He didn't have to. That wasn't your average taxicab. There are other hints to indicate that, but it was spelled out more clearly in the novel.
One thing that anime definitely did better was to showcase Kyon's cute little sister. Maybe she's not a very important character, but she's so cute in the anime, I can't help but like her.
Time to start reading the next volume, "Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki."
