"Haven't you felt a peculiar sort of worry about the chair in your living room that no one sits in?"

In this quote, Nicholson Baker is questioning the reader about a specific sensation they may have experienced. He uses the word "peculiar" to suggest that this sensation is uncommon or odd. The item of this feeling is a chair in the reader's living-room that nobody ever sits in. This could be analyzed as a metaphor for something in our lives that we stress over, although it might not have any practical purpose or significance. Using the word "worry" suggests that this sensation is negative and causes anxiousness. Overall, Baker is inviting the reader to reflect on their own ideas and feelings surrounding seemingly irrelevant items in their environment.