I'm still steaming through a book a month on the little monster. Battery lasts forever, the screen reads great...
The ReLaunch rom for it is quite nice to work with, I can access my server with books using Total Commander and SSH, AlReader is quite adjustable (if not updated for Android 2.1 since forever, of course)... I even downloaded a couple of custom eReader fonts for it, Using Bookerly, now.
I just wish some apps were still updated for it. But then that's the bleeding-edge software lover in me talking, it actually works fine and doesn't need any updates.
I had to stop using mine when I ignored it for about 6 months and came back and it couldn't connect to wifi anymore because it needed a system update. I have had time to try to do anything with it through my desktop, so it just sits on my nightstand and does nothing. I got a new Nook since then (easier to buy something than fix something. Ugh.)
Ah, yes, that can be fixed by installing a custom mod on it, as I recall, but that does take some time to do, as you say. That is, I recall having that issue and fixing it somehow with help from XDA, but that's about it.