I've finished all 5 books that are published. The 6th book should be out soon. I heard there were also going to be books 7 and 8.
I just started watching the TV show last week. Honestly, it does not compare to the books. I'm really bummed. However, I understand that there are a lot of people who don't like reading or don't have the time and the TV show does the job. It's a great TV show but it's not very close to the book. For instance, Catelyn knitting and talking to people while watching Bran aftef his fall is not like her (in the book). She's supposed to look like she hasn't washed for days and stare out into nothing. Then, when Jon Snow comes in to say goodbye to Bran, Catelyn sneers at him, then when he leaves, she says, "Jon Snow?" like she's going to say something kind to him but instead says, "I wish it was you instead of Bran." Also, Rickon is not in the TV show. He's Catelyn's 4-year-old son. They seemed to have made Bran the youngest and he's already 10 years old. In the book, he falls from the tower when he was 5. Also, when Bran saw Cersie and Jamie making love, it was in a guest bedroom, not an old tower. And, Jaime didn't push Bran out the window, he dropped him. The reason wasn't because he saw that they were making love, it was because he heard stuff he wasn't supposed to.
As for Danearys, she seemed weak. I can understand why some didn't like her so much. In the book, she appeared much stronger. When Kal Drogo copulated with her, she didn't cry. She was very brave on the outside. She never yelled at her brother or thought any bad about her brother. It was strange to see that in the TV show. She had a lot of hope for her kind to gain back power and she did whatever was needed to get their power back. Her brother was a cold and mean man and they did depict him pretty close.
Arya was also depicted pretty good. Except they called her horse face in the book a lot so I imagined her with a long face and big teeth. The TV Arya is really cute. As for Sansa, her character is so off that she seems like a completely different person. Sansa in the book is a very happy girl. She loved pretty things, cute boys, partys, and gatherings. She's always smiling. When they locked her father away, she questioned a lot of things, but she still had hopes that they'd let him go. It was only after Joffrey did what he did to her father that she realized how evil he was. BUT, she ends up falling for the flower prince.
Oh...and Lord Renly was portrayed as a gay guy. He was not portrayed that way in the book. There was no guy going down on Renly. In fact, there were no gay things going on in the book.
And, one more thing. Tyrion seems so sower in the show. He did not come across that way at all in the book. He was so funny and kind.
It's interesting to see the differences. There was more s*x in the show than in the book. Little Finger was not always into two girls going at it and all that. It was just weird.