I go way back with the book. I believe I read it when I was 13 or 14. A neighbor gave it to me in one compilation volume for Chanukah then. It had a cover drawn from that awful Ralph Bakshi animated film that was out then... THAT has to date me a bit!
I read the story non-stop for about 11 days. I even took the book with me to a high school swimming event. Foolish, because I didn't separate it enough from the wet stuff to protect it; the book was trashed as a result.
Anyways, for some reason I can't explain, I haven't been able to re-read it since. I only get a few pages in before I lose interest. I guess the magic of that first reading is gone.