diff --git a/frontend/ui/opdsparser.lua b/frontend/ui/opdsparser.lua
index a78eadcf7..a1321b3a9 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/opdsparser.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/opdsparser.lua
@@ -33,13 +33,12 @@ end
 function OPDSParser:createFlatXTable(xlex, curr_element)
     curr_element = curr_element or {}
 
-    local curr_attr_name;
-    local attr_count = 0;
+    local curr_attr_name
+    local attr_count = 0
 
     -- start reading the thing
-    local txt
     for event, offset, size in xlex:Lexemes() do
-        txt = ffi.string(xlex.buf + offset, size)
+        local txt = ffi.string(xlex.buf + offset, size)
         if event == luxl.EVENT_START then
             if txt ~= "xml" then
                 -- does current element already have something
@@ -61,7 +60,7 @@ function OPDSParser:createFlatXTable(xlex, curr_element)
             curr_attr_name = unescape(txt)
         elseif event == luxl.EVENT_ATTR_VAL then
             curr_element[curr_attr_name] = unescape(txt)
-            attr_count = attr_count + 1;
+            attr_count = attr_count + 1
             curr_attr_name = nil
         elseif event == luxl.EVENT_TEXT then
             curr_element = unescape(txt)
@@ -73,16 +72,23 @@ function OPDSParser:createFlatXTable(xlex, curr_element)
 end
 
 function OPDSParser:parse(text)
-    -- luxl cannot properly handle xml comments and we need first remove them
-    text = text:gsub("<!--.--->", "")
-    -- luxl prefers <br />, other two forms are valid in HTML,
-    -- but will kick the ass of luxl
+    -- Murder Calibre's whole "content" block, because luxl doesn't really deal well with various XHTML quirks,
+    -- as the list of crappy replacements below attests to...
+    -- There's also a high probability of finding orphaned tags or badly nested ones in there, which will screw everything up.
+    text = text:gsub('<content type="xhtml">.-</content>', '')
+    -- luxl doesn't handle XML comments, so strip them
+    text = text:gsub("<!%-%-.-%-%->", "")
+    -- luxl prefers <br />, the other two forms are valid in HTML, but will kick luxl's ass
     text = text:gsub("<br>", "<br />")
     text = text:gsub("<br/>", "<br />")
     -- Same deal with hr
     text = text:gsub("<hr>", "<hr />")
     text = text:gsub("<hr/>", "<hr />")
-    -- some OPDS catalogs wrap text in a CDATA section, remove it as it causes parsing problems
+    -- It's also allergic to orphaned <em/> (As opposed to a balanced <em></em> pair)...
+    text = text:gsub("<em/>", "")
+    -- Let's assume it might also happen to strong...
+    text = text:gsub("<strong/>", "")
+    -- Some OPDS catalogs wrap text in a CDATA section, remove it as it causes parsing problems
     text = text:gsub("<!%[CDATA%[(.-)%]%]>", function (s)
         return s:gsub( "%p", {["&"] = "&amp;", ["<"] = "&lt;", [">"] = "&gt;" } )
     end )
diff --git a/frontend/ui/widget/opdsbrowser.lua b/frontend/ui/widget/opdsbrowser.lua
index 62a2a4780..b1277115c 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/widget/opdsbrowser.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/widget/opdsbrowser.lua
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ function OPDSBrowser:init()
         servers = {
           {
             title = "Project Gutenberg",
-            url = "http://m.gutenberg.org/ebooks.opds/?format=opds",
+            url = "https://m.gutenberg.org/ebooks.opds/?format=opds",
           },
           {
             title = "Project Gutenberg [Searchable]",
@@ -87,11 +87,11 @@ function OPDSBrowser:init()
           },
           {
              title = "Feedbooks",
-             url = "http://www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain/catalog.atom",
+             url = "https://catalog.feedbooks.com/catalog/public_domain.atom",
           },
           {
              title = "ManyBooks",
-             url = "http://manybooks.net/opds/index.php",
+             url = "https://manybooks.net/opds/index.php",
           },
           {
              title = "Internet Archive",
@@ -99,11 +99,11 @@ function OPDSBrowser:init()
           },
           {
              title = "Flibusta (Russian)",
-             url = "http://www.flibusta.is/opds",
+             url = "https://www.flibusta.is/opds",
           },
           {
              title = "Flibusta [Ru] [Searchable]",
-             url = "http://www.flibusta.is/opds/search?searchTerm=%s",
+             url = "https://www.flibusta.is/opds/search?searchTerm=%s",
              searchable = true,
           },
           {
@@ -388,9 +388,9 @@ end
 function OPDSBrowser:getCatalog(item_url, username, password)
     local ok, catalog = pcall(self.parseFeed, self, item_url, username, password)
     if not ok and catalog then
-        logger.info("cannot get catalog info from", item_url, catalog)
+        logger.info("cannot get catalog info from", item_url or "nil", catalog)
         UIManager:show(InfoMessage:new{
-            text = T(_("Cannot get catalog info from %1"), (BD.url(item_url) or "")),
+            text = T(_("Cannot get catalog info from %1"), (item_url and BD.url(item_url) or "nil")),
         })
         return
     end
@@ -498,7 +498,7 @@ function OPDSBrowser:genItemTableFromCatalog(catalog, item_url, username, passwo
                 end
             end
             if author then
-                item.text = title .. "\n" .. author
+                item.text = title .. " - " .. author
             end
         end
         item.title = title
@@ -676,7 +676,7 @@ function OPDSBrowser:showDownloads(item)
 end
 
 function OPDSBrowser:browse(browse_url, username, password)
-    logger.dbg("Browse opds url", browse_url)
+    logger.dbg("Browse opds url", browse_url or "nil")
     table.insert(self.paths, {
         url = browse_url,
         username = username,