I did. I read some of Twain in high school but didn't really "get it", in hindsight. Then as I grew older and began reading many of Twain's endless quotes it made me want to go read more of his works, and I'm glad I did.

I think high school readings are quite pointless in general, because most kids either aren't mentally developed enough, or aren't going to have the focus, to actually "get" what's being said - at least not beyond the point of cramming enough stuff down to be able to puke it back up on a test/report.

That was certainly the case for me and I think this is extremely common given there are plenty of people that think Huck Finn is a racist book, when the entire underlying message is a never-ending mockery of racism.

I was raised where Sam Clemens was raised. People not only read the books. They tour his home. They tour the cave from Tom Sawyer. They attend the annual National Tom Sawyer days. They come from all over the world.

Its not required reading in the UK and I still read Twain, as did my kids.

Plato (who came long after Homer) complained about "kids these days" not memorizing poetry (like the old farts did) and using that new fangled technology called "writing".