I too find the puranas pretty much just stories, and not very good ones at that. There may be a lesson gleaned here or there, but not so much that they're worth studying. Gods really aren't in any kind of form resembling human, and many of them just propose wrong ideas like fights. An example is Murugan's story of fighting off asuras with his Vel, as if in some kind of real war. When I mention I worship Murugan to most Indians, that's what I get: marriages, fights, that sort of stuff. My version of the Vel is symbolic of piercing the ego, or maya, so one can see clearly from an advaitic perspective. It has nothing at all to do with some historical battle. So I do think they (the puranas) distract from the real purpose of our religion; to realise the Self.