diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/flatcss.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/flatcss.py
index d006d8dd2d..1493a647ae 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/flatcss.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/flatcss.py
@@ -320,7 +320,8 @@ class CSSFlattener(object):
             if self.context.insert_blank_line:
                 cssdict['margin-top'] = cssdict['margin-bottom'] = \
                     '%fem'%self.context.insert_blank_line_size
-            if self.context.remove_paragraph_spacing:
+            if (self.context.remove_paragraph_spacing and
+                cssdict.get('text-align', None) not in ('center', 'right')):
                 cssdict['text-indent'] =  "%1.1fem" % self.context.remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size
 
         if cssdict:
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py b/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
index b5917f1a55..90d293ba64 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
@@ -290,7 +290,10 @@ class DatabaseException(Exception):
 
     def __init__(self, err, tb):
         tb = '\n\t'.join(('\tRemote'+tb).splitlines())
-        msg = unicode(err) +'\n' + tb
+        try:
+            msg = unicode(err) +'\n' + tb
+        except:
+            msg = repr(err) + '\n' + tb
         Exception.__init__(self, msg)
         self.orig_err = err
         self.orig_tb  = tb