Thanks everybody for the tips and insight. Very helpful indeed.

saluk - thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful reply. Much appreciated.

Hi everybody. I just found this site yesterday from the TV Blogs What' s Alan Watching? and Mo Ryan's The Watcher. I'm generally not a fiction reader and so it's not surprising that I've never even heard of Game of Thrones. However, those blog write-ups have me thinking that I might want to read the book, but I'm kind of afraid that it might take a lot of the enjoyment out of the TV series for me. For example, my friend is a big fan of all the True Blood books, but can derive no enjoyment out of the HBO series because it's so different form the books, she says. I, on the other hand, having not read the books, get a kick out of the TV show.

Any strong feelings one way or the other from you Thrones experts on if I should read the book first, or wait and read it after the first season of the TV series airs? Thanks.