I keep seeing A Song of Ice and Fire and the other Game of Thrones books around, but I've never bothered to pick one up because I'm tired of hearing about the show. Are the books anything like the show so far?
Yes and no. The show is a reasonably faithful adaptation at first, but then starts to go in a different direction. A couple of seasons ago they passed where the books end. I've totally given up on the books - GRRM has been saying the next one is "almost done" for years, and I personally don't believe he'll finish the series before he either retires or dies. If it ever happens, I'm going to wait until he's released the whole series and then I'll read them.
I can't really judge that. I never got into the show, only saw bits of the first couple seasons when my old roommate watched them. The books are huge (30 - 40 hours of audio) and have an enormous number of characters. But he does a better job than I expected of keeping the story moving despite the size. I think they're good, maybe not as fantastic as the hype suggests.