A Game of Thrones - reading before watching it

I have owned the first book of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series for a while now, but I never came around to actually reading it.

Sadly, this means I cannot watch the Game of Thrones TV series.
"Why?" , you might ask.

Well, firstly because I wish to know if I like the story itself first before plunging into the Games of Thrones hype that's been going around lately.

Secondly, I really liked the trailer and the bits and pieces I hear from all around about the TV series and I believe that if I do not read the book series first I will never start them, so that my perception of the TV series will not change ... makes sense?

Therefor I decided to give A Game of Thrones (Title of the first book, who would've guessed, eh?)  a chance by cutting it into small pieces which i will read every week until I am FINALLY finished. Who knows, I might enjoy it so much I just read it in one go.

Anybody interested in reading along?