I had avoided all real spoilers, but accidentally read about Graendal's death. But, as you say, since that wasn't too unexpected, and I had no idea when or how it would take place, it didn't really ruin the book.

Of course, I had really fallen out of touch with WoT by that point, so it wasn't hard to avoid spoilers. Now that TGS has restored my interest (a lot), the next year is going to be much more difficult than the previous few, and spoilers may be harder to avoid.