Has the Nook gotten better with the slew of firmware updates since its release? When I was working at Barnes and Noble, we had numerous people coming in each day complaining about some malfunction or another, but I haven't kept up with the machine since I left for my current job.

As far as suggestions go, I recently read The Gunslinger, the first in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Was certainly interesting and might be worth a try. I was planning on reading more, but then my roommate dumped The Wheel of Time on me and I haven't read much else since.