diff --git a/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala b/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala
index 376cdb62..ca137ad4 100644
--- a/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala
+++ b/eventuate-log-leveldb/src/main/scala/com/rbmhtechnology/eventuate/log/leveldb/LeveldbEventLog.scala
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 
 import akka.actor._
+import akka.pattern.ask
 import akka.serialization.SerializationExtension
+import akka.util.Timeout
 
 import com.rbmhtechnology.eventuate.DurableEvent
 import com.rbmhtechnology.eventuate.log._
@@ -39,6 +41,9 @@ import scala.concurrent.duration._
 import scala.util._
 
 class LeveldbEventLogSettings(config: Config) extends EventLogSettings {
+  val readTimeout: FiniteDuration =
+    config.getDuration("eventuate.log.read-timeout", TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS).millis
+
   val rootDir: String =
     config.getString("eventuate.log.leveldb.dir")
 
@@ -106,6 +111,9 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
   private def eventIterator(from: Long, classifier: Int): EventIterator =
     new EventIterator(from, classifier)
 
+  private def eventReader(): ActorRef =
+    context.actorOf(Props(new EventReader).withDispatcher("eventuate.log.dispatchers.read-dispatcher"))
+
   override def readReplicationProgresses: Future[Map[String, Long]] =
     completed(withIterator(iter => replicationProgressMap.readReplicationProgresses(iter)))
 
@@ -113,15 +121,13 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
     completed(withIterator(iter => replicationProgressMap.readReplicationProgress(logId)))
 
   override def replicationRead(fromSequenceNr: Long, toSequenceNr: Long, max: Int, filter: DurableEvent => Boolean): Future[BatchReadResult] =
-    Future(readSync(fromSequenceNr, toSequenceNr, EventKey.DefaultClassifier, max, filter))(services.readDispatcher)
+    eventReader().ask(EventReader.ReadSync(fromSequenceNr, toSequenceNr, EventKey.DefaultClassifier, max, filter))(settings.readTimeout, self).mapTo[BatchReadResult]
 
   override def read(fromSequenceNr: Long, toSequenceNr: Long, max: Int): Future[BatchReadResult] =
-    Future(readSync(fromSequenceNr, toSequenceNr, EventKey.DefaultClassifier, max, _ => true))(services.readDispatcher)
+    eventReader().ask(EventReader.ReadSync(fromSequenceNr, toSequenceNr, EventKey.DefaultClassifier, max, _ => true))(settings.readTimeout, self).mapTo[BatchReadResult]
 
-  override def read(fromSequenceNr: Long, toSequenceNr: Long, max: Int, aggregateId: String): Future[BatchReadResult] = {
-    val numericId = aggregateIdMap.numericId(aggregateId)
-    Future(readSync(fromSequenceNr, toSequenceNr, numericId, max, _ => true))(services.readDispatcher)
-  }
+  override def read(fromSequenceNr: Long, toSequenceNr: Long, max: Int, aggregateId: String): Future[BatchReadResult] =
+    eventReader().ask(EventReader.ReadSync(fromSequenceNr, toSequenceNr, aggregateIdMap.numericId(aggregateId), max, _ => true))(settings.readTimeout, self).mapTo[BatchReadResult]
 
   override def recoverClock: Future[EventLogClock] = completed {
     val snap = readEventLogClockSnapshot
@@ -189,12 +195,10 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
   private def withIterator[R](body: DBIterator => R): R = {
     val so = snapshotOptions()
     val iter = leveldb.iterator(so)
-    addActiveIterator(iter)
     try {
       body(iter)
     } finally {
       iter.close()
-      removeActiveIterator(iter)
       so.snapshot().close()
     }
   }
@@ -214,7 +218,6 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
     val iter1 = leveldb.iterator(opts)
     val iter2 = iter1.asScala.takeWhile(entry => eventKey(entry.getKey).classifier == classifier).map(entry => event(entry.getValue))
 
-    addActiveIterator(iter1)
     iter1.seek(eventKeyBytes(classifier, from))
 
     override def hasNext: Boolean =
@@ -225,7 +228,6 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
 
     override def close(): Unit = {
       iter1.close()
-      removeActiveIterator(iter1)
       opts.snapshot().close()
     }
   }
@@ -253,46 +255,29 @@ class LeveldbEventLog(id: String, prefix: String) extends EventLog(id) with With
   }
 
   override def postStop(): Unit = {
-    while (activeIterators.get.nonEmpty) {
-      // Wait a bit for all concurrent read iterators to be closed
-      // See https://github.com/RBMHTechnology/eventuate/issues/87
-      Thread.sleep(500)
-    }
     leveldb.close()
     super.postStop()
   }
 
-  // -------------------------------------------------------------------
-  //  Support for tracking active iterators used by concurrent readers.
-  //  It helps to avoid `pthread lock: invalid argument` errors raised
-  //  by native code when closing the leveldb instance maintained by
-  //  this event log actor, mainly during integration tests.
-  // -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-  import java.util.concurrent.atomic._
-  import java.util.function._
-
-  private val activeIterators = new AtomicReference[Set[DBIterator]](Set())
+  private class EventReader() extends Actor {
+    import EventReader._
 
-  private val addAccumulator = new BinaryOperator[Set[DBIterator]] {
-    override def apply(acc: Set[DBIterator], u: Set[DBIterator]): Set[DBIterator] =
-      acc + u.head
+    def receive = {
+      case ReadSync(from, to, classifier, max, filter) =>
+        Try(readSync(from, to, classifier, max, filter)) match {
+          case Success(r) => sender() ! r
+          case Failure(e) => sender() ! Status.Failure(e)
+        }
+        context.stop(self)
+    }
   }
 
-  private val removeAccumulator = new BinaryOperator[Set[DBIterator]] {
-    override def apply(acc: Set[DBIterator], u: Set[DBIterator]): Set[DBIterator] =
-      acc - u.head
+  private object EventReader {
+    case class ReadSync(fromSequenceNr: Long, toSequenceNr: Long, classifier: Int, max: Int, filter: DurableEvent => Boolean)
   }
-
-  def addActiveIterator(iter: DBIterator): Unit =
-    activeIterators.accumulateAndGet(Set(iter), addAccumulator)
-
-  def removeActiveIterator(iter: DBIterator): Unit =
-    activeIterators.accumulateAndGet(Set(iter), removeAccumulator)
 }
 
 object LeveldbEventLog {
-
   private[leveldb]type CloseableIterator[A] = Iterator[A] with Closeable
 
   private[leveldb] case class EventKey(classifier: Int, sequenceNr: Long)
@@ -332,7 +317,6 @@ object LeveldbEventLog {
     Future.fromTry(Try(body))
 
   private[leveldb] trait WithBatch {
-
     protected def leveldb: DB
     protected def leveldbWriteOptions: WriteOptions