Comment Re:A week? (Score 1) 1004
It's been interesting to compare the two. I've been reading the books and am halfway through book 5, and watching the series. They've fabricated things for more skin-time (such as the prostitute Roz in the HBO story, not in the book), and switched things around. Another embellishment in the HBO story, purely for shock value, was when Joffrey forced the whore in his bed to beat the other whore viciously. Most of the "simpler" changes are to make it simply more interesting to watch, and on HBO that means more tits, usually. These are not substantive changes to the storyline, however.
More questionable changes DO change the storyline. I don't think we'll know if it was for TV adaptation, or if the edits simplify the storyline, or what until much later. For example, one was last week's (?) episode where Lord Tywin tells his cupbearer (Arya) of the difference between saying m'lord and my lord. There are two things different in that scene: (1) in the book, Arya is never Tywin's cupbearer at Harrenhal, and (2), the m'lord/my lord conversation takes place much later, in book 5, between Lord Bolton and Reek. So this first change could bring huge implications; for instance, while Arya was serving, Littlefinger recognizes her but it's not yet known if he reveals or uses this information elsewhere, which would be very different from the book.