Lima Beans City Chic

Life in the California steel town where Durbin grew up in the 1940s and 1950s revolved around the activities of the mill. Times were hard, but it was all great fun for a childeven such strike-time staples of the family diet as lima beans and ``city chicken,'' ground veal on an ice cream stick, baked like a chicken leg. The people in the author's life made everything seem specialher rowdy, high-spirited father who kept everyone laughing with bawdy stories, her beautiful, strong-willed mother and the boisterous relatives and friends who were always ready to join the family for a good time and a tall tale. Durbin has vivid memories of all the merriment, and she also remembers in colorful detail the sights, sounds, smells and excitement of the town and mill. In a breezy, earthy style she tells the slight but affecting story of working-class people in a blue-collar town where, to a child, even the most ordinary event seemed touched with magic. (Jan.)