So Borders is shutting down five stores. Apparently this isn't the end of the chain, it's just a cunning plan to raise a bit more cash by getting New Look to pay them for the leases on some of their most high profile stores - including the really big one on Oxford Street.

But there has been something really unsavory about the reaction of shoppers, who have been ransacking the half price books, driven crazy by the thought of cut price chic lit.

I was fairly alarmed by the aggression on show, and the tattered books discarded on the floor. I didn't particularly enjoy the scratching injury I got when rummaging around in a bargain bin either.

I can't say I was massively shocked. Our obsession with bargains has got completely out of hand, so it seems that half price books now bring out the animal in us.

But it was actually a bit of a kick in the teeth for the staff, who flocked to their trade website, The Bookseller, to share their horror. They live in a world where shoppers aren't just consumers looking for a quick fix to discard and forget. Book lovers keep books, pass them on to friends, meet in clubs to talk about them, and make lists of their all-time top tens.

So the idea of them trampling over a pile of books to get their sweaty hands on a cut price John Grisham is all a bit upsetting for them.

And much though I was there, and I did seriously consider starting a scrap with the woman who scratched me in order to nab my bargain find, I'm with the staff on this.

Surely books are unlike almost any consumer purchase we make. They can change our lives for little more than a fiver.

It may be half price, but it doesn't mean it's a worthless piece of junk that we can tread underfoot in our dash to save money.

But what do you think? Should books deserve a special place in our hearts that stands above crazy credit crunch madness, or is this just sentimental claptrap, and should I just be diving into these bargain bins and chucking unwanted tomes over my shoulder with the rest of them?