Sometimes it's best to just leave certain areas and return once you re at a higher level, otherwise you'll just become frustrated with the game, it happened to me early on when I came across an enemy type that was much stronger and no tactics I employed would work.
Do you have any stones activated at present? There are three of them just before you enter Riverwood, (Thieves, Warrior & Mage) depending on which way you want to play the game you'll need to choose one of these as each will increase the speed with which you level up in that particular department i.e. if you have the warrior stone activated your two-handed and blocking will level up faster.
1: the scrolls, yes they are once off throw-away spells
2: if you have books which start with 'spell', they can be read and that particular perk will be unlocked and can be used continuously like your flames or what have you. Other books with high values can be read to level up other skills like smithing, light armour etc Once you've read them just sell em cause they've served their purpose.
Hope this helps