diff --git a/examples/readstream.py b/examples/readstream.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c99698d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/readstream.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+## Copyright (c) 2010, Coptix, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+## See the LICENSE file for license terms and warranty disclaimer.
+
+"""readstream -- a simple example of xmpp.ReadStream
+
+This example uses a ReadStream to push chunks of data into an XML
+parser.  The parser targets a SAX-style content handler that reports
+the tokenized XML back to the client.
+
+For example:
+   python examples/readstream.py &
+   echo some-file.xml | nc 127.0.0.1 9000
+"""
+
+import xmpp
+from lxml import etree
+
+class Target(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, stream):
+        self.stream = stream
+
+    def start(self, name, attr):
+        self.stream.write('start %r %r\n' % (name, attr.items()))
+
+    def data(self, data):
+        self.stream.write('data %r\n' % data)
+
+    def stop(self, name):
+        print 'stop', name
+        self.stream.write('stop %r\n' % name)
+
+    def close(self):
+        self.stream.close()
+
+def parse(socket, addr, io_loop):
+    print '%r connected.' % addr[0]
+    stream = xmpp.ReadStream(socket, io_loop)
+    parser = etree.XMLParser(target=Target(stream))
+    parser.feed('') # Prime the parser.
+    stream.read(parser.feed)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    server = xmpp.TCPServer(parse).bind('127.0.0.1', '9000')
+    xmpp.start([server])
diff --git a/xmpp/__init__.py b/xmpp/__init__.py
index a45d558..4f749c5 100644
--- a/xmpp/__init__.py
+++ b/xmpp/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 from .tcp import *
+from .readstream import *
 from .xmlstream import *
 from .xmppstream import *
 from .application import *
diff --git a/xmpp/readstream.py b/xmpp/readstream.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3f493a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xmpp/readstream.py
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+## Copyright (c) 2010, Coptix, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+## See the LICENSE file for license terms and warranty disclaimer.
+
+"""readstream -- unbuffered reads / buffered writes on a non-blocking
+socket."""
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import
+from tornado import ioloop
+
+__all__ = ('ReadStream', )
+
+class ReadStream(object):
+    """A simplified version of Tornado's IOStream class that supports
+    unbuffered reads and buffered writes.  This example uses a
+    ReadStream to push data into an XML parser:
+
+        import xmpp
+        from lxml import etree
+
+        class Target(object):
+
+            def __init__(self, stream):
+                self.stream = stream
+
+            def start(self, name, attr):
+                self.stream.write('start %r %r\n' % (name, attr.items()))
+
+            def data(self, data):
+                self.stream.write('data %r\n' % data)
+
+            def stop(self, name):
+                print 'stop', name
+                self.stream.write('stop %r\n' % name)
+
+            def close(self):
+                self.stream.close()
+
+        def parse(socket, addr, io_loop):
+            print '%r connected.' % addr[0]
+            stream = xmpp.ReadStream(socket, io_loop)
+            parser = etree.XMLParser(target=Target(stream))
+            parser.feed('') # Prime the parser.
+            stream.read(parser.feed)
+
+        if __name__ == '__main__':
+            server = xmpp.TCPServer(parse).bind('127.0.0.1', '9000')
+            xmpp.start([server])
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, socket, io_loop=None, read_chunk_size=4096):
+        self.socket = socket
+        self.io_loop = io_loop or ioloop.IOLoop.instance()
+
+        self._state = io_loop.ERROR
+        self._reader = None
+        self._read_chunk_size = read_chunk_size
+        self._wb = u''
+
+        self.io_loop.add_handler(socket.fileno(), self._handle, self._state)
+
+    def read(self, reader):
+        assert not self._reader, "There's already a reader installed."
+        self._reader = reader
+        self._add_io_state(self.io_loop.READ)
+        return self
+
+    def write(self, data):
+        self._wb += data
+        self._add_io_state(self.io_loop.WRITE)
+        return self
+
+    def close(self):
+        if self.socket:
+            self.io_loop.remove_handler(self.socket.fileno())
+            self.socket.close()
+            self.socket = None
+        return self
+
+    def _handle(self, fd, events):
+        if events & self.io_loop.READ:
+            self._read()
+            if not self.socket:
+                return
+
+        if events & self.io_loop.WRITE:
+            self._write()
+            if not self.socket:
+                return
+
+        if events & self.io_loop.ERROR:
+            self.close()
+            return
+
+        state = self.io_loop.ERROR
+        if self._reader:
+            state |= self.io_loop.READ
+        if self._wb:
+            state |= self.io_loop.WRITE
+        if state != self._state:
+            self._new_io_state(state)
+
+    def _read(self):
+        try:
+            chunk = self.socket.recv(self._read_chunk_size)
+        except socket.error as exc:
+            if exc[0] in (errno.EWOULDBLOCK, errno.EAGAIN):
+                return
+            else:
+                self.close()
+
+        if not chunk:
+            self.close()
+            return
+
+        self._reader(chunk)
+
+    def _write(self):
+        while self._wb:
+            try:
+                sent = self.socket.send(self._wb)
+                self._wb = self._wb[sent:]
+            except socket.error as exc:
+                if ex[0] in (errno.EWOULDBLOCK, errno.EAGAIN):
+                    break
+                else:
+                    self.close()
+                    return
+
+    def _add_io_state(self, state):
+        if not self._state & state:
+            self._new_io_state(self._state | state)
+
+    def _new_io_state(self, state):
+        self._state = state
+        self.io_loop.update_handler(self.socket.fileno(), state)