That's certainly something I'm looking forward to with the TV series -- some solid editing and streamlining (to be fair, ASOIAF really needs this in spades, especially post-ASOS).
I stalled out and crashed on the books about book 7 when long stretches of nothing happening but skirt smoothing, sniffing, and braid tugging happened. My wife and I eventually came back and listened to the entire series on audiobook on long trips, which made it more palatable,. I still think Brandon Sanderson was the best thing to happen to the series. Jordan set up the win, but he was not a closer -- Sanderson is a closer.