Thank you guys for the above thread and responses. I tried Aldiko (several versions) and experienced the half/half page display problem; Laputa crashes, Google eBooks won't install. Haven't tried iReader yet, because FBReader works like a charm!
Grab the newest version (0.99.11 as of today) from:
http://www.fbreader.org/FBReaderJ/
Make sure you download the Android 1.5 package for old devices.
Set the bottom margin to '30' (the maximum), and it will perfectly account for the bottom softbar. Other options are comparable to Aldiko.
Et voila! This cheapo piece of junk is now half-way usable as an e-Reader.