diff --git a/canteven-log.cabal b/canteven-log.cabal
--- a/canteven-log.cabal
+++ b/canteven-log.cabal
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 -- documentation, see http://haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/
 
 name:                canteven-log
-version:             2.0.1.0
+version:             2.0.2.1
 synopsis:            A canteven way of setting up logging for your program.
 description:
     A library that uses <https://hackage.haskell.org/package/canteven-config canteven-config>
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
   -- other-extensions:
   build-depends:
     aeson,
-    base >= 4.8 && < 4.10,
+    base >= 4.8 && < 4.11,
     bytestring,
     directory,
     fast-logger,
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
     monad-logger,
     template-haskell,
     text,
-    time >= 1.5 && <1.7,
+    time >= 1.5 && <1.9,
     transformers,
     yaml
   hs-source-dirs:      src
diff --git a/src/Canteven/Log/MonadLog.hs b/src/Canteven/Log/MonadLog.hs
--- a/src/Canteven/Log/MonadLog.hs
+++ b/src/Canteven/Log/MonadLog.hs
@@ -6,13 +6,15 @@
 
     {- Reexports -}
     LoggingConfig(LoggingConfig, level, logfile, loggers),
-    LoggerDetails(loggerName, loggerPackage, loggerModule, loggerLevel)
+    LoggerDetails(loggerName, loggerPackage, loggerModule, loggerLevel),
+    newLoggingConfig,
     ) where
 
 import Canteven.Log.Types (LoggingConfig(LoggingConfig, logfile,
     level, loggers),
     LoggerDetails(LoggerDetails, loggerName, loggerPackage,
-    loggerModule, loggerLevel))
+    loggerModule, loggerLevel),
+    newLoggingConfig)
 import Control.Concurrent (ThreadId, myThreadId)
 import Control.Monad (when)
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO, liftIO)
diff --git a/src/Canteven/Log/Types.hs b/src/Canteven/Log/Types.hs
--- a/src/Canteven/Log/Types.hs
+++ b/src/Canteven/Log/Types.hs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
     LoggerDetails(..),
     LoggingConfig(..),
     defaultLogging,
+    newLoggingConfig,
     ) where
 
 import Control.Monad.Logger (LogLevel(LevelDebug, LevelInfo, LevelWarn,
@@ -11,7 +12,17 @@
 import Data.Aeson (Value(String, Object), (.:?), (.!=), (.:))
 import Data.Maybe (catMaybes, listToMaybe)
 import Data.Yaml (FromJSON(parseJSON))
+import Data.Text (pack)
 
+{-
+  A convenience function for creating a LoggingConfig when you just want a
+  default LoggingConfig with the specified LogLevel in String form. Useful
+  for services that read configuration directly from environment variables
+  instead of a configuration file.
+-}
+newLoggingConfig :: String -> LoggingConfig
+newLoggingConfig s = defaultLogging {level = unLP $ read s}
+
 data LoggingConfig =
   LoggingConfig {
     level :: LogLevel,
@@ -59,6 +70,14 @@
   parseJSON (String s) = return (LP (LevelOther s))
   parseJSON value = fail $ "Couldn't parse LogLevel from value " ++ show value
 
+{- The provided dervived Read instance for LogLevel isn't very useful -}
+instance Read LogPriority where
+  readsPrec _ "DEBUG" = [(LP LevelDebug, "")]
+  readsPrec _ "INFO" = [(LP LevelInfo, "")]
+  readsPrec _ "WARN" = [(LP LevelWarn, "")]
+  readsPrec _ "WARNING" = [(LP LevelWarn, "")]
+  readsPrec _ "ERROR" = [(LP LevelError, "")]
+  readsPrec _ other = [(LP . LevelOther $ pack other, "")]
 
 {- |
   A way to set more fined-grained configuration for specific log messages.