To read or not to read?

In mid/late March, PBS will be launching two new series on Sunday nights:  "The Forsytes," based on "The Forsyte Saga" novels from the 1920s by John Galsworthy, and "The Count of Monte Cristo," based on the 1844 classic by Alexander Dumas. I plan to watch both! (at least the first few episodes, to see if I enjoy them). 

(I remember my mother watching "The Forsyte Saga" when I was a kid, back in the 1960s -- or was it "The Whiteoaks of Jalna"?  -- Probably both, lol. Apparently there was a new version of "The Forsyte Saga" made for British TV in 2002, too. The original 1967 series is apparently available to watch on YouTube... hmmm...)    

I have not read any of the books these shows are based on. I generally do like to read a book first before seeing any movies/TV shows based on them, and I figured I would read these before the TV shows began. Of course, time zoomed by between when I first heard about the shows and the present... With just a few weeks left to go, I recently bought cheap e-copies for my Kobo reader, and opened them both earlier this week.  

I did not realize (until I did) that both are LONG books!! I checked on Goodreads, and the paperback Penguin edition of "The Count of Monte Cristo" is almost 1,300 pages long;  "The Forsyte Saga" is 900!  Granted, I suppose I could just read whatever I can before the shows start -- the first episode(s) won't cover the entire book, after all.

But do I really have the time, energy and focus right now to tackle two very long books like these?   Are there other books I could/should be reading right now instead?  (especially given my book club obligations). Will reading the books first enhance my understanding and appreciation of the shows -- or just annoy me, when I realize what they've left out and how they've miscast certain characters that I imagined differently??  etc. etc.  (lol)  Is it worth reading the books first when it's likely I'm just going to be annoyed by the TV show's lack of faithfulness to the subject material?? 

In the case of "The Forsytes," the project is being led by Debbie Horsfield, who adapted the first seven "Poldark" novels by Winston Graham for a TV series for a new generation (2015-2019), a few years back. (There was also a "Poldark" TV series in the 1970s, which my mother & I watched together.) The first several seasons of "Poldark" were mostly faithful to the books and very well done... right up until the final season, which completely departed from the novels, and was nowhere near as satisfying. (I've written about both the Poldark books & TV shows on this blog in the past, and tagged them all as "Poldark.")    

And I've been hearing rumblings that "The Forsytes" TV series led by Horsfield won't be a strict adaptation, but rather will be "reimagined" from the novels. (See, for example, this article from Drama Quarterly, and this one from Radio Times.)  Hmmm....  I don't mind a few tweaks and trims (you can't include EVERYTHING in the books, of course), but it does bother me when too many liberties are taken with the original story (especially when the author doesn't have any say in the changes!).  

What do you think?  Do you generally like to read a book before seeing the movie/show -- or do you think it matters?  (Have you read these books before?)  

(I was amused to see, while browsing through my past Poldark-related posts, that I wrote a similar post on this subject back in 2017!)