Until a couple months ago, I had never heard of A Game of Thrones or the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. When the HBO series A Game of Thrones was nearing, I wondered if I should read the book or not. This may be weird, but I generally don’t read the source material for TV shows that I watch or movies I plan to see. If I’ve already read the book and liked it, then I’ve no hesitation in watching the TV series or the movie.
I know that, in most cases, the TV series will be different than the books. For example, I’ve heard in The Southern Vampire Mystery book series, Lafayette died, but in the True Blood TV series he survived. And, during the The Vampire Diaries panel at C2E2, Executive Producer Julie Plec mentioned that they don’t follow the books, but they know they can pull storylines or characters from the series anytime, when needed. During the The Walking Dead panel, Laurie Holden (Andrea) mentioned that they will get to “the prison” but probably not in season 2 and that the CDC storyline was not in the graphic novel.
This is why I don’t read the source material. First, I don’t really like spoilers. In the past, I couldn’t help myself and I would read every spoiler I could find, but I realized that it took away some of the thrills. I think my reluctance to read the source material stems from the fear that it will detract from my enjoyment of the show. I don’t want to know about a “prison” storyline that is one or more seasons away. Or wonder … when will they get to the prison? I checked out the first book of The Walking Dead from the library a couple of weeks ago, but I just can’t bring myself to read it.
Getting back to A Games of Thrones, I have watched the first episode and was engrossed in that world. I want to fully experience this world in a way that I know the books will be able to do more than the TV show. I was tempted to get the first book and try to read it prior to the April 17th premiere on HBO, but I decided not to do that. I want to experience the series without comparing it to the book, but I plan on reading the book as soon as the first season is over. Now, whether I will be able to refrain from moving on to the second book, I foresee that not happening.
Do you have a rule? If you haven’t read the source material, do you want to read it or avoid it like I do?
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Apr 11, 2011 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
I think that when you read the source material, some times makes the enjoyment of the series even better, but there are cases when it’s not very good. That’s the case with true blood for me, the books are so great that when the series doesn’t follow the story lines of the book i get a little cranky!!! :) (more so when they start to add characters that doesn’t belong, or they don’t developed the ones in the books as they should)
I didn’t read Darkly Dreaming Dexter until I knew the Dexter show was now nowhere close to the book.
I’m planning to do the same with the Vampire Diaries. Especially Vampire Diaries…
I don’t generally read the source material. However I did read the Vampire Diaries, and I freakishly glad that the TV show veers greatly from the books. I HATED the books.
If you’re a fan of the FX series Justified I suggest reading the source material. The actual show really only takes from a short story Elmore Leonard wrote “Fire in the Hole” but the Raylan Givens character has lived on in such great books as Pronto and Riding the Rap. Nothing about these books will provide spoilers, instead they enhance the character of Givens and make you more invested in the series. I guess you could call “Fire in the Hole” a spoiler for the pilot of Justified but other than that you should consider reading Pronto and Riding the Rap.