GOVERNOR

``Politics ought to be fun—after baseball it's our next favorite pastime,'' says Texas Gov. Ann Richards, the woman who swears she learned about politics from running a household. A three-minute walk with photographer Sobol (Seal Journey, 1993) becomes a half-hour ordeal because of the number of people who believe Richards when she says ``a week when I'm trapped in this office isn't real''—and stop to talk. Sobol captures her well with his prose. When a TV camera rolls, ``as if waking from a nap her head lifts up, her eyes sparkle like exploding fireworks, and her smile grows...wide like a fresh-cut slice of watermelon.'' But he knows when to sit back and just let Richards do what she does best- -talk. Why is her hair white? ``Have you met my children?'' How does she maintain weight? ``I buy larger sizes.'' No book studded with the witticisms of Richards could fail to entertain. This one is, and doesn't. (Nonfiction. 8-12)