You can pretty much make soup out of virtually any mix of meat or vegetables, or a mix of both. I, myself, like a hearty thick soup as opposed to a thinner broth. There are also chilled soups as well as hot, but I have never been brave enough to taste one. I suppose I have always associated soups with either starters in a meal, or winter warmers for those cold evenings. 
A useful piece of equipment for many soups is a blender, which, for me, is one of my top ten must have kitchen gadgets! Useful for many recipes, I use mine to blend a soup to a smooth, but thick texture and mine is an attachment for my food mixer, but before my mixer, I had a stand alone blender. Alternatively, you can use a hand blender.
Blenders range from about £10 for a plastic one, with a smaller
1.25 litre capacity, up to well over £200 and 2 litres. I would recommend a sturdier glass jug 1.5 litre blender at around £40.
Hand blenders also start at around £10 and go up to approx £100, but a mid range price should come with some accessories/jugs etc.
Soup Recipes