There's probably a 50/50 split between people on here who've heard of ASoIaF. It is a fantasy book series currently in progress. The books are on par with novels like LotR and Wheel of Time. The basic plot line involves a continent, Westeros, which is suffering a civil war after the death of its King. It involves war, intrigue, incest, murder, faith (not christianity...), oaths, and lies. Except for the occasional sprikle of magic from the gods this could be an almost entirely historical account of some distant land in the middle ages.
So, for those of you who HAVE read them: I have amazing news. George R. R. Martin, the author, has said numerous times that these books could not be sufficiently made into movies (to put it in perspective, the third book in the series - A Storm of Swords - is as large as the LotR trilogy...) because no film studio would ever commit to 18 movies to capture the whole story. BUT, like I said, an amazing thing happened. HBO, the creator of WONDERFUL miniseries, such as Deadwood, The Sopranos, and ROME, has bought an option on the tv and film rights to ASoIaF!!!! Variety.com was the first to announce the news. Then, Martin confirmed it. Enjoy the articles
Moving on, if for whatever reason you have been deprived of reading this epic series...I'm sorry, you don't realize what you are missing! I think I might like it better than Star Wars, and SW is pretty much an awesome story (bad acting aside!) If I can find one, I will post a sample on here so you can get a taste and hopefully LOVE it!