diff --git a/Lib/imaplib.py b/Lib/imaplib.py
index 142e27b..1b54065 100644
--- a/Lib/imaplib.py
+++ b/Lib/imaplib.py
@@ -249,15 +249,7 @@
 
     def read(self, size):
         """Read 'size' bytes from remote."""
-        chunks = []
-        read = 0
-        while read < size:
-            data = self.file.read(min(size-read, 4096))
-            if not data:
-                break
-            read += len(data)
-            chunks.append(data)
-        return b''.join(chunks)
+        return self.file.read(size)
 
 
     def readline(self):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 917dfe3..68130a9 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -161,6 +161,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #1441530: In imaplib, read the data in one chunk to speed up large
+  reads and simplify code.
+
 - Issue #12070: Fix the Makefile parser of the sysconfig module to handle
   correctly references to "bogus variable" (e.g. "prefix=$/opt/python").