I kept my NOOK Simple Touch rooted for a couple of years. Android 2.1 was a real limitation but I was able to find apps that worked reasonably well. My favorites were:
- TripIt (trip intinerary)
- Shredder Chess
- Mantano Reader (old version for Android 2.1 compatibility)
- Yukon Gold Solitaire (version from XDA Forums modified for eink settings)
- Cool Reader
- FB Reader