I suggest Benediction by Kent Haruf. In spare but lyrical prose, Mr. Haruf tells the story of a group of neighbors in the small Colorado town of Holt (scene of his earlier novels Plainsong and Eventide). It is summer, brutally hot and dry, and Dad Lewis, proprietor of the town's hardware store, is dying. The book weaves such current social issues into the plot as the morality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and homosexuality and the generational divide; but mostly it focuses on the kindness and generosity of his principal characters and the power of love to resolve so many human problems. It's a very thought-provoking and hopeful book.