diff --git a/src/index.c b/src/index.c
index bd7a763..ce47f13 100644
--- a/src/index.c
+++ b/src/index.c
@@ -222,17 +222,24 @@ Index__find(Index *self, PyObject *py_path)
 
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(Index_read__doc__,
-  "read()\n"
+  "read(force=True)\n"
   "\n"
   "Update the contents of an existing index object in memory by reading from\n"
-  "the hard disk.");
+  "the hard disk."
+  "Arguments:\n"
+  "\n"
+  "force: if True (the default) allways reload. If False, only if the file has changed"
+);
 
 PyObject *
-Index_read(Index *self)
+Index_read(Index *self, PyObject *args)
 {
-    int err;
+    int err, force = 1;
 
-    err = git_index_read(self->index);
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|i", &force))
+        return NULL;
+
+    err = git_index_read(self->index, force);
     if (err < GIT_OK)
         return Error_set(err);
 
@@ -427,7 +434,7 @@ PyMethodDef Index_methods[] = {
     METHOD(Index, diff_to_workdir, METH_VARARGS),
     METHOD(Index, diff_to_tree, METH_VARARGS),
     METHOD(Index, _find, METH_O),
-    METHOD(Index, read, METH_NOARGS),
+    METHOD(Index, read, METH_VARARGS),
     METHOD(Index, write, METH_NOARGS),
     METHOD(Index, read_tree, METH_O),
     METHOD(Index, write_tree, METH_NOARGS),
diff --git a/src/index.h b/src/index.h
index 7c63c1c..f38cb4a 100644
--- a/src/index.h
+++ b/src/index.h
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 PyObject* Index_add(Index *self, PyObject *args);
 PyObject* Index_clear(Index *self);
 PyObject* Index_find(Index *self, PyObject *py_path);
-PyObject* Index_read(Index *self);
+PyObject* Index_read(Index *self, PyObject *args);
 PyObject* Index_write(Index *self);
 PyObject* Index_iter(Index *self);
 PyObject* Index_getitem(Index *self, PyObject *value);