Compared to the same period last year, February's sales for religious books increased 5.5% to $48.5 million, following a 5.6% increase to $52.6 million in January sales. Year-to-date, the category is up 6.1% to $93.9 million.

The brightest spot in the AAP report, however, was e-book sales, which continued to rise in February—reflecting an increase of 202.3% to $90.3 million compared to February 2010. Compared to the same period last year, January/February e-book sales grew 169.4% to $164.1 million, while the combined categories of print books fell 24.8% to $441.7 million, AAP said.

The digital books surge was attributed to strong post-holiday e-book buying and "loading" by consumers who received e-reader devices as gifts.

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