diff --git a/pelican/readers.py b/pelican/readers.py
index 797994cb..ae634c80 100644
--- a/pelican/readers.py
+++ b/pelican/readers.py
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ class RstReader(Reader):
     enabled = bool(docutils)
     file_extensions = ['rst']
 
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super(RstReader, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
     def _parse_metadata(self, document):
         """Return the dict containing document metadata"""
         output = {}
@@ -126,6 +129,10 @@ class RstReader(Reader):
         extra_params = {'initial_header_level': '2',
                         'syntax_highlight': 'short',
                         'input_encoding': 'utf-8'}
+        user_params = self.settings.get('DOCUTILS_SETTINGS')
+        if user_params:
+            extra_params.update(user_params)
+
         pub = docutils.core.Publisher(
             destination_class=docutils.io.StringOutput)
         pub.set_components('standalone', 'restructuredtext', 'html')
@@ -335,6 +342,9 @@ def read_file(path, fmt=None, settings=None):
     if fmt not in EXTENSIONS:
         raise TypeError('Pelican does not know how to parse {}'.format(path))
 
+    if settings is None:
+        settings = {}
+
     reader = EXTENSIONS[fmt](settings)
     settings_key = '%s_EXTENSIONS' % fmt.upper()
 
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_readers.py b/pelican/tests/test_readers.py
index 5381a776..386c0172 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_readers.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_readers.py
@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@ class RstReaderTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_article_with_filename_metadata(self):
         content, metadata = readers.read_file(
-                _path('2012-11-29_rst_w_filename_meta#foo-bar.rst'),
-                settings={})
+                _path('2012-11-29_rst_w_filename_meta#foo-bar.rst'))
         expected = {
             'category': 'yeah',
             'author': 'Alexis Métaireau',
@@ -204,8 +203,7 @@ class MdReaderTest(unittest.TestCase):
     @unittest.skipUnless(readers.Markdown, "markdown isn't installed")
     def test_article_with_filename_metadata(self):
         content, metadata = readers.read_file(
-                _path('2012-11-30_md_w_filename_meta#foo-bar.md'),
-                settings={})
+                _path('2012-11-30_md_w_filename_meta#foo-bar.md'))
         expected = {
             'category': 'yeah',
             'author': 'Alexis Métaireau',