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One of the many pleasures of having an interest in Alan Bates's work, is the literary nature of many of the projects he chose. Here are five titles representative of his activities in the 1990s
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"Art" presumably needs no introduction, though it will surprise some that it is such a good read. (Though I can not imagine it as a film, it translated brilliantly to radio.)
In "The Unexpected Man," "... He is a well-known novelist, she a passionate admirer of his work. She has his latest book in her handbag, and would be reading it, if she did not fear his reaction would be embarrassing or disappointing. In an evening lasting an hour and a quarter, it takes 50 minutes for him to break the silence, 60 for her to start reading his "The Unexpected Man," and roughly 73 for them to acknowledge who they are and what they feel. Order them online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

This interesting book includes an interview with Alan Bates.

"...Visiting the major acting schools in England, reading every interview she could get her hands on, watching countless films and plays, and sending out hundreds of letters, Carol Zucker finally winnowed her cast down to two dozen. (Eight were later "painfully" edited out by the publisher.) She asked each actor for a minimum of three hours interview time. ...
The result makes for fascinating reading. Here are some of the greatest actors of our time thinking out loud about their craft: What is it to prepare for a role? What is the difference between acting for a live audience or the camera? (British actors tend to work in all forms.)
What are the differences between U.S.-style "method" acting and the more classical British and Irish style of acting? In the process of talking about these highly subjective subjects, one also gets a mini-course in the history of modern British and Irish theatre and a real glimpse into the mind and soul of an actor.
"I got wildly different answers to the questions, the questions being a way of getting at the actors' personalities," Zucker said. "Alan Bates, for example, got such a kick out of everything I asked. He thinks deeply about everything. ..."

Review, Amazon.co.uk
Gathering three of Nancy Mitford's most famous works --The Pursuit of Love and The Blessing are included here alongside Love In A Cold Climate--this collection is the perfect introduction to a writer of great wit and charm, a singular voice in modern English prose whose themes are deeper and more profound than brief acquaintance might suggest. The first two novels, especially Pursuit..., are semi-autobiographical: the Radletts of Alconleigh are portraits of Mitford's own eccentric clan, while she herself appears as Fanny, a family cousin and the novels' narrator. The irrepressible, precocious Radletts provide many of the early instances of Mitford's deliciously wicked humour:
There was much worse drama when Linda, aged twelve, told the daughters of neighbours, who had come to tea, what are supposed to be the facts of life. Linda's presentation of the "facts" had been so gruesome that the children left Alconleigh howling dismally, their nerves permanently impaired, their future chances of a sane and happy sex life much reduced.
Following the amorous trajectories of Linda Radlett and of Polly Hampton, the first two books here are at once extremely funny and deeply serious, delineating the possibilities for love in a world circumscribed by the formal expectations and conventions of marriage. Mitford's heroines dramatise the search for a true or ideal relationship, regardless of social institutions or sexual orientation. If her casual attitude to adultery and, particularly, her portrait of Cedric--a gay character who is charming, flirtatious, and above all happy--resulted in her work being vilified by contemporaries for its "decadence" and "immorality", her exploration of female sexuality seems now to be resolutely modern, arguing the right to happiness and fulfillment.
Nancy Mitford's considerable literary output--biography, journalism, translation, fiction--has been somewhat eclipsed by the biographical extravagance of her extraordinary family: her sisters Unity and Diana (the wife of Sir Oswald Mosley) were enthusiastic fascists who notoriously cultivated the friendship of Adolf Hitler; another sister, Jessica, ran away to America and became a left-wing journalist, later writing The American Way of Death. Her case has not been helped by her subject-matter, for the milieu of the wealthy upper classes and their deep-rooted snobbishness and casual bigotry is one that might easily repel a reader who misses the irony, satire and the surfacing of darker concerns that characterise the books. A shame, for she is one of the true originals of modern English writing. --Burhan Tufail

Lindsay Anderson's "About John Ford" combined a critical biography with a memoir of his guarded friendship with the great Western director.
Now Gavin Lambert, a close and lifelong friend of Anderson's since their days at Cheltenham School in the forties, has essayed a similar kind of tribute. The result is an elegant, intimate and witty salute to one of the foremost figures of post-war British cinema and theatre.
Alan Bates, who worked with Anderson a number of times, was interviewed for the book; and there are photos from the film of David Storey's "In Celebration," which Lindsay Anderson directed:
"Lindsay was a great friend. If I really needed advice, professional or otherwise, I consulted him. He was so clear-headed. I remember him saying once, 'Remember, no offer is an insult.' "