The Elder Scrolls: The XVII Princes of Oblivion

[veti]

If you're having trouble finding and sorting out your potions and poisons, there are mods to help you with that.

And if you want a permanent damage boost to your weapons, then I suggest focusing obsessively on training up smithing. It's the easiest way to achieve that early. And it'll help with your armour as well.

Edit: As for spell tomes, I've seen a couple of mods that add gameplay around them. One that requires you to find a quiet, safe place and spend time reading the tome, in several sessions, to learn the spell. Another, probably more in line with the Skyrim ethos, uses a tome of a known spell to upgrade the spell to a more powerful version.

So there are ways to make tomes worthwhile. Maybe TES6 could do something with them.