diff --git a/base b/base
index 7c380d059..009227741 160000
--- a/base
+++ b/base
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 7c380d0590ce51795513c3fc12bc6f36a2d9a131
+Subproject commit 00922774168ba8cab225d337f1bbeb15d2799d8d
diff --git a/platform/pocketbook/koreader.app b/platform/pocketbook/koreader.app
index 7394aded6..d03b6f28a 100755
--- a/platform/pocketbook/koreader.app
+++ b/platform/pocketbook/koreader.app
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
 
 # working directory of koreader
-KOREADER_DIR=/mnt/ext1/applications/koreader
+KOREADER_DIR="/mnt/ext1/applications/koreader"
 
 # file through which we communicate instanced opens
-export KO_PATH_OPEN_BOOK=/tmp/.koreader.open
+export KO_PATH_OPEN_BOOK="/tmp/.koreader.open"
 
 # check for and notify a running instance
 INSTANCE_PID=$(cat /tmp/koreader.pid 2>/dev/null)
@@ -18,20 +18,43 @@ fi
 echo $$ >/tmp/koreader.pid
 
 # update to new version from OTA directory
-NEWUPDATE="${KOREADER_DIR}/ota/koreader.updated.tar"
-INSTALLED="${KOREADER_DIR}/ota/koreader.installed.tar"
-if [ -f "${NEWUPDATE}" ]; then
-    # TODO: any graphic indication for the updating progress?
-    cd /mnt/ext1/ && "${KOREADER_DIR}/tar" xf "${NEWUPDATE}" --no-same-permissions --no-same-owner &&
-        mv "${NEWUPDATE}" "${INSTALLED}"
-    rm -f "${NEWUPDATE}" # always purge newupdate in all cases to prevent update loop
-fi
+ko_update_check() {
+    NEWUPDATE="${KOREADER_DIR}/ota/koreader.updated.tar"
+    INSTALLED="${KOREADER_DIR}/ota/koreader.installed.tar"
+    if [ -f "${NEWUPDATE}" ]; then
+        "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -y -7 -pmh "Updating KOReader"
+        # NOTE: See frontend/ui/otamanager.lua for a few more details on how we squeeze a percentage out of tar's checkpoint feature
+        # NOTE: %B should always be 512 in our case, so let stat do part of the maths for us instead of using %s ;).
+        FILESIZE="$(stat -c %b "${NEWUPDATE}")"
+        BLOCKS="$((FILESIZE / 20))"
+        export CPOINTS="$((BLOCKS / 100))"
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2016
+        cd /mnt/ext1 && "${KOREADER_DIR}/tar" xf "${NEWUPDATE}" --no-same-permissions --no-same-owner --checkpoint="${CPOINTS}" --checkpoint-action=exec='${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink -q -y -6 -P $(($TAR_CHECKPOINT/$CPOINTS))'
+        fail=$?
+        # Cleanup behind us...
+        if [ "${fail}" -eq 0 ]; then
+            mv "${NEWUPDATE}" "${INSTALLED}"
+            "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -y -6 -pm "Update successful :)"
+            "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -y -5 -pm "KOReader will start momentarily . . ."
+        else
+            # Uh oh...
+            "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -y -6 -pmh "Update failed :("
+            "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -y -5 -pm "KOReader may fail to function properly!"
+        fi
+        rm -f "${NEWUPDATE}" # always purge newupdate in all cases to prevent update loop
+        unset BLOCKS CPOINTS
+        # Ensure everything is flushed to disk before we restart. This *will* stall for a while on slow storage!
+        sync
+        # Don't forget to go back home, for proper restart behavior
+        cd ${KOREADER_DIR} || exit
+    fi
+}
 
 # we're always starting from our working directory
 cd ${KOREADER_DIR} || exit
 
 # export load library path for some old firmware
-export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${KOREADER_DIR}/libs:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${KOREADER_DIR}/libs:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
 
 # export trained OCR data directory
 export TESSDATA_PREFIX="data"
@@ -46,21 +69,121 @@ else
     args="$*"
 fi
 
-# we keep maximum 500K worth of crash log
+# we keep at maximum 500K worth of crash log
 if [ -e crash.log ]; then
     tail -c 500000 crash.log >crash.log.new
     mv -f crash.log.new crash.log
 fi
 
 export KO_EXIT_CODE="/tmp/.koreader.exit"
-RETURN_VALUE="85"
-while [ "${RETURN_VALUE}" = "85" ]; do
-    rm -f "${KO_EXIT_CODE}"
+CRASH_COUNT=0
+CRASH_TS=0
+CRASH_PREV_TS=0
+# List of supported special return codes
+KO_RC_RESTART=85
+#KO_RC_USBMS=86
+# Ensure a clean slate on startup
+rm -f "${KO_EXIT_CODE}"
+RETURN_VALUE=${KO_RC_RESTART}
+while [ "${RETURN_VALUE}" -ne 0 ]; do
+    if [ "${RETURN_VALUE}" -eq ${KO_RC_RESTART} ]; then
+        # Do an update check now, so we can actually update KOReader via the "Restart KOReader" menu entry ;).
+        ko_update_check
+    fi
+
     ./reader.lua "${args}" >>crash.log 2>&1
-    RETURN_VALUE=$(cat ${KO_EXIT_CODE})
+
+    # Account for the fact a hard crash may have prevented the KO_EXIT_CODE file from being written to...
+    if [ -f "${KO_EXIT_CODE}" ]; then
+        RETURN_VALUE="$(cat ${KO_EXIT_CODE})"
+        rm -f "${KO_EXIT_CODE}"
+    else
+        # If we couldn't find it, something went horribly wrong ;).
+        RETURN_VALUE=42
+    fi
+
+    # Did we crash?
+    if [ "${RETURN_VALUE}" -ne 0 ] && [ "${RETURN_VALUE}" -ne ${KO_RC_RESTART} ]; then
+        # Increment the crash counter
+        CRASH_COUNT=$((CRASH_COUNT + 1))
+        CRASH_TS=$(date +'%s')
+        # Reset it to a first crash if it's been a while since our last crash...
+        if [ $((CRASH_TS - CRASH_PREV_TS)) -ge 20 ]; then
+            CRASH_COUNT=1
+        fi
+
+        # Check if the user requested to always abort on crash
+        if grep -q '\["dev_abort_on_crash"\] = true' 'settings.reader.lua' 2>/dev/null; then
+            ALWAYS_ABORT="true"
+            # In which case, make sure we pause on *every* crash
+            CRASH_COUNT=1
+        else
+            ALWAYS_ABORT="false"
+        fi
+
+        # Show a fancy bomb on screen
+        viewWidth=600
+        viewHeight=800
+        FONTH=16
+        eval "$("${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -e | tr ';' '\n' | grep -e viewWidth -e viewHeight -e FONTH | tr '\n' ';')"
+        # Compute margins & sizes relative to the screen's resolution, so we end up with a similar layout, no matter the device.
+        # Height @ ~56.7%, w/ a margin worth 1.5 lines
+        bombHeight=$((viewHeight / 2 + viewHeight / 15))
+        bombMargin=$((FONTH + FONTH / 2))
+        # With a little notice at the top of the screen, on a big gray screen of death ;).
+        "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -b -c -B GRAY9 -m -y 1 "Don't Panic! (Crash n°${CRASH_COUNT} -> ${RETURN_VALUE})"
+        if [ ${CRASH_COUNT} -eq 1 ]; then
+            # Warn that we're waiting on a tap to continue...
+            "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -b -O -m -y 2 "Tap the screen to continue."
+        fi
+        # U+1F4A3, the hard way, because we can't use \u or \U escape sequences...
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2039
+        "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -b -O -m -t regular=${KOREADER_DIR}/fonts/freefont/FreeSerif.ttf,px=${bombHeight},top=${bombMargin} -- $'\xf0\x9f\x92\xa3'
+        # And then print the tail end of the log on the bottom of the screen...
+        crashLog="$(tail -n 25 crash.log | sed -e 's/\t/    /g')"
+        # The idea for the margins being to leave enough room for an fbink -Z bar, small horizontal margins, and a font size based on what 6pt looked like @ 265dpi
+        "${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink" -q -b -O -t regular=${KOREADER_DIR}/fonts/droid/DroidSansMono.ttf,top=$((viewHeight / 2 + FONTH * 2 + FONTH / 2)),left=$((viewWidth / 60)),right=$((viewWidth / 60)),px=$((viewHeight / 64)) -- "${crashLog}"
+        # So far, we hadn't triggered an actual screen refresh, do that now, to make sure everything is bundled in a single flashing refresh.
+        ${KOREADER_DIR}/fbink -q -f -s
+        # Cue a lemming's faceplant sound effect!
+
+        {
+            echo "!!!!"
+            echo "Uh oh, something went awry... (Crash n°${CRASH_COUNT}: $(date +'%x @ %X'))"
+        } >>crash.log 2>&1
+        if [ ${CRASH_COUNT} -lt 5 ] && [ "${ALWAYS_ABORT}" = "false" ]; then
+            echo "Attempting to restart KOReader . . ." >>crash.log 2>&1
+            echo "!!!!" >>crash.log 2>&1
+        fi
+
+        # Pause a bit if it's the first crash in a while, so that it actually has a chance of getting noticed ;).
+        if [ ${CRASH_COUNT} -eq 1 ]; then
+            sleep 15
+        fi
+        # Cycle the last crash timestamp
+        CRASH_PREV_TS=${CRASH_TS}
+
+        # But if we've crashed more than 5 consecutive times, exit, because we wouldn't want to be stuck in a loop...
+        # NOTE: No need to check for ALWAYS_ABORT, CRASH_COUNT will always be 1 when it's true ;).
+        if [ ${CRASH_COUNT} -ge 5 ]; then
+            echo "Too many consecutive crashes, aborting . . ." >>crash.log 2>&1
+            echo "!!!! ! !!!!" >>crash.log 2>&1
+            break
+        fi
+
+        # If the user requested to always abort on crash, do so.
+        if [ "${ALWAYS_ABORT}" = "true" ]; then
+            echo "Aborting . . ." >>crash.log 2>&1
+            echo "!!!! ! !!!!" >>crash.log 2>&1
+            break
+        fi
+    else
+        # Reset the crash counter if that was a sane exit/restart
+        CRASH_COUNT=0
+    fi
 done
 
-rm -f /tmp/koreader.pid
+rm -f "/tmp/koreader.pid"
 
 if pidof reader.lua >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     killall -TERM reader.lua