diff --git a/acid-state.cabal b/acid-state.cabal
--- a/acid-state.cabal
+++ b/acid-state.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                acid-state
-Version:             0.11.1
+Version:             0.11.2
 Synopsis:            Add ACID guarantees to any serializable Haskell data structure.
 Description:         Use regular Haskell data structures as your database and get stronger ACID guarantees than most RDBMS offer.
 Homepage:            http://acid-state.seize.it/
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 -- Copyright:
 Category:            Database
 Build-type:          Simple
-Cabal-version:       >=1.6
+Cabal-version:       >=1.10
 Extra-source-files:
         examples/*.hs
         examples/errors/*.hs
@@ -57,4 +57,49 @@
   else
      Hs-Source-Dirs:   src-unix/
 
+  default-language:    Haskell2010
   GHC-Options:         -fwarn-unused-imports -fwarn-unused-binds
+
+
+
+benchmark loading-benchmark
+  type:
+    exitcode-stdio-1.0
+  hs-source-dirs:
+    benchmarks/loading
+  main-is:
+    Benchmark.hs
+  build-depends:
+    random,
+    directory,
+    system-fileio == 0.3.*,
+    system-filepath,
+    criterion == 0.8.*,
+    mtl,
+    base,
+    acid-state
+  default-language:
+    Haskell2010
+  default-extensions:  
+    PatternGuards
+    GADTs
+    StandaloneDeriving
+    MultiParamTypeClasses
+    ScopedTypeVariables
+    FlexibleInstances
+    TypeFamilies
+    TypeOperators
+    FlexibleContexts
+    NoImplicitPrelude
+    EmptyDataDecls
+    DataKinds
+    NoMonomorphismRestriction
+    RankNTypes
+    ConstraintKinds
+    DefaultSignatures
+    TupleSections
+    TemplateHaskell
+    OverloadedStrings
+    DeriveDataTypeable
+  ghc-options:
+    -O2
diff --git a/benchmarks/loading/Benchmark.hs b/benchmarks/loading/Benchmark.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/loading/Benchmark.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+
+import Benchmark.Prelude
+import Criterion.Main
+import qualified Data.Acid as Acid
+import qualified Benchmark.FileSystem as FS
+import qualified Benchmark.Model as Model; import Benchmark.Model (Model)
+import qualified System.Random as Random
+
+
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = do
+  
+  workingPath <- do 
+    workingPath <- FS.getTemporaryDirectory
+    rndStr <- replicateM 16 $ Random.randomRIO ('a', 'z')
+    return $ workingPath <> "acid-state" <> "benchmarks" <> "loading" <> FS.decodeString rndStr
+
+  putStrLn $ "Working under the following temporary directory: " ++ FS.encodeString workingPath
+  FS.removeTreeIfExists workingPath
+  FS.createTree workingPath
+
+  defaultMain =<< sequence
+    [
+      prepareBenchmarksGroup workingPath $ 200,
+      prepareBenchmarksGroup workingPath $ 400,
+      prepareBenchmarksGroup workingPath $ 600,
+      prepareBenchmarksGroup workingPath $ 800
+    ]
+
+
+
+prepareBenchmarksGroup :: FS.FilePath -> Int -> IO Benchmark
+prepareBenchmarksGroup workingPath size = do
+  putStrLn $ "Preparing instances for size " ++ show size
+
+  let
+    workingPath' = workingPath <> (FS.decodeString $ show size)
+    logsInstancePath = workingPath' <> "logs-instance"
+    checkpointInstancePath = workingPath' <> "checkpoint-instance"
+
+  FS.createTree logsInstancePath
+  FS.createTree checkpointInstancePath
+  
+  putStrLn "Initializing"
+  inst <- initialize checkpointInstancePath size
+  
+  putStrLn "Copying"
+  FS.copy checkpointInstancePath logsInstancePath
+  FS.removeFile $ logsInstancePath <> "open.lock"
+
+  putStrLn "Checkpointing"
+  Acid.createCheckpoint inst
+
+  putStrLn "Closing"
+  Acid.closeAcidState inst
+
+  return $ bgroup (show size) 
+    [
+      bench "From Logs" $ nfIO $ 
+        load logsInstancePath >>= Acid.closeAcidState,
+      bench "From Checkpoint" $ nfIO $ 
+        load checkpointInstancePath >>= Acid.closeAcidState
+    ]
+
+
+
+load :: FS.FilePath -> IO (Acid.AcidState Model)
+load path = Acid.openLocalStateFrom (FS.encodeString path) mempty
+
+initialize :: FS.FilePath -> Int -> IO (Acid.AcidState Model)
+initialize path size = do
+  inst <- Acid.openLocalStateFrom (FS.encodeString path) mempty
+  let values = replicate size $ replicate 100 $ replicate 100 1
+  mapM_ (Acid.update inst . Model.Insert) values
+  return inst
+
+
diff --git a/src/Data/Acid/Log.hs b/src/Data/Acid/Log.hs
--- a/src/Data/Acid/Log.hs
+++ b/src/Data/Acid/Log.hs
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@
          worker files
     where worker [] = return Nothing
           worker (logFile:logFiles)
-              = do archive <- Lazy.readFile logFile
+              = do archive <- fmap Lazy.fromStrict $ Strict.readFile logFile
                    case Archive.readEntries archive of
                      Done            -> worker logFiles
                      Next entry next -> return $ Just (decode' (lastEntry entry next))