diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/bn_plugin.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/bn_plugin.py
index f26a60c89d..62826e825d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/bn_plugin.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/bn_plugin.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import random
 import re
-import urllib2
+import urllib
 from contextlib import closing
 
 from lxml import html
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class BNStore(BasicStoreConfig, StorePlugin):
 
     def search(self, query, max_results=10, timeout=60):
         url = 'http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?STORE=EBOOK&SZE=%s&WRD=' % max_results
-        url += urllib2.quote(query)
+        url += urllib.quote_plus(query)
         
         br = browser()
         
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/download_thread.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/download_thread.py
index 6dd59cc5a7..97279d7773 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/download_thread.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/download_thread.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ from threading import Thread
 from Queue import Queue
 
 from calibre import browser
+from calibre.constants import DEBUG
 from calibre.utils.magick.draw import thumbnail
 
 class GenericDownloadThreadPool(object):
@@ -119,7 +120,8 @@ class SearchThread(Thread):
                     self.results.put((res, store_plugin))
                 self.tasks.task_done()
             except:
-                traceback.print_exc()
+                if DEBUG:
+                    traceback.print_exc()
 
 
 class CoverThreadPool(GenericDownloadThreadPool):
@@ -157,7 +159,8 @@ class CoverThread(Thread):
                     callback()
                 self.tasks.task_done()
             except:
-                continue
+                if DEBUG:
+                    traceback.print_exc()
 
 
 class DetailsThreadPool(GenericDownloadThreadPool):
@@ -191,7 +194,8 @@ class DetailsThread(Thread):
                     callback(result)
                 self.tasks.task_done()
             except:
-                continue
+                if DEBUG:
+                    traceback.print_exc()
 
 
 class CacheUpdateThreadPool(GenericDownloadThreadPool):
@@ -221,4 +225,5 @@ class CacheUpdateThread(Thread):
                 store_plugin, timeout = self.tasks.get()
                 store_plugin.update_cache(timeout=timeout, suppress_progress=True)
             except:
-                traceback.print_exc()
+                if DEBUG:
+                    traceback.print_exc()
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/search.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/search.py
index f7e8c88cd9..eea1a692de 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/search.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/search/search.py
@@ -139,14 +139,17 @@ class SearchDialog(QDialog, Ui_Dialog):
         query = query.replace('>', '')
         query = query.replace('<', '')
         # Remove the prefix.
-        for loc in ( 'all', 'author', 'authors', 'title'):
-            query = re.sub(r'%s:"?(?P<a>[^\s"]+)"?' % loc, '\g<a>', query)
+        for loc in ('all', 'author', 'authors', 'title'):
+            query = re.sub(r'%s:"(?P<a>[^\s"]+)"' % loc, '\g<a>', query)
+            query = query.replace('%s:' % loc, '')
         # Remove the prefix and search text.
         for loc in ('cover', 'drm', 'format', 'formats', 'price', 'store'):
             query = re.sub(r'%s:"[^"]"' % loc, '', query)
             query = re.sub(r'%s:[^\s]*' % loc, '', query)
         # Remove logic.
-        query = re.sub(r'(^|\s)(and|not|or)(\s|$)', ' ', query)
+        query = re.sub(r'(^|\s)(and|not|or|a|the|is|of)(\s|$)', ' ', query)
+        # Remove "
+        query = query.replace('"', '')
         # Remove excess whitespace.
         query = re.sub(r'\s{2,}', ' ', query)
         query = query.strip()